Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Sunday dismissed news coverage of a letter issued last month to the United Nations that expressed alarm over the “deteriorating human rights situation” for LGBTQ people in the Lone Star State.

Signed by Equality Texas, ACLU of Texas, GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign, and the University of Texas at Austin School of Law Human Rights Clinic, the letter details how Texas legislators introduced 141 bills targeting the LGBTQ community, passing seven into law.

“The UN can go pound sand,” Abbott wrote in a post on X.

The UN can go pound sand. https://t.co/JpWguPHGHJ

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) February 25, 2024

In 2023, the governor signed a ban on gender affirming care for transgender youth, a ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at public universities, a ban on transgender athletes competing in college sports, a law allowing schools to use religious chaplains for counseling services, a ban on “sexually oriented performances” on public property accessible to minors (which targets drag shows), a law allowing schools to restrict LGBTQ books, and a ban on nondiscrimination ordinances by local governments.

The groups argued in their letter that these policies constitute a “systemic discriminatory policy” in violation of international human rights laws, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a multilateral treaty whose tenets are enforced by the UN Human Rights Committee.

In the hours after Genesee Moreno, a 36-years-old Latina woman, entered the sanctuary of Joel Osteen’s mega Lakewood Church and opened fire with an assault rifle this past Sunday, there were multiple instances of confusion over her gender identity, in part fueled by unsubstantiated or false narratives from far-right extremists.

During a briefing with reporters yesterday, Houston Police Department homicide commander Christopher Hassig stated with absolute clarity that Moreno was not a transgender person.

“Our shooter is identified by a driver’s license as Genesee Moreno, 36-years-old, Hispanic female. There are some discrepancies. We do have reports she used multiple aliases, including Jeffrey Escalante. So she has utilized both male and female names but through all of our investigation to this point, talking with individuals, interviews, documents, Houston Police Department reports, she has identified this entire time as female,” Hassig told the media.

In initial coverage, KHOU and the Houston Chronicle reported Moreno, who had used the name Jeffery Escalante, had an extensive criminal history dating back to 2005 according to a Texas Department of Public Safety records search. Prior arrests include failure to stop and give information, assault of a public servant, assault causing bodily injury, forgery, possession of marijuana, theft, evading arrest and unlawful carrying weapon.

Media outlets including Fox News and even NBC News who later retracted a portion of their story mistakenly framed the context as “a person who previously identified as male” which led to the incorrect framing of Moreno’s gender identity.

Far-right extremist pundits and at least one anti-trans member of the U.S. House of Representatives took up the “shooter was trans” narrative.

Chaya Raichik’s post had a companion extremist anti-trans X post by U. S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who republished a post by far-right media Blaze TV anchor Sara Gonzales, both falsely claiming Moreno was trans. Gonzales’ post appeared to contain a criminal record without attribution of its source.

Raichik also posted the same “criminal record” on her social media accounts.

Fox News also ran misleading and false headlines regarding Moreno’s gender identity.

Alejandra Caraballo, a trans attorney and clinical instructor at the prestigious Harvard Law Cyberlaw Clinic who also writes on gender and technology issues for Wired and Slate magazines, debunked the Fox News allegations and called out the far-right anti-trans extremists.

“Far right extremist accounts like Libs of Tiktok rushed to call the shooter at Joel Osteen’s church a transgender woman. The police have just confirmed that is not the case and she was the biological mother of the child who was shot. They won’t apologize or retract their lies,” Caraballo said.

Oh no you don't Fox News, you don't get to make incendiary claims without evidence and then stealth edit your articles without a full retraction and correction. pic.twitter.com/o1bnJwVYi0

— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) February 12, 2024

Ari Drennen, executive director of Media Matters of America’s LGBTQ Project, cautioned Tuesday the falsehoods and fabrications are “adding fuel to a moral panic” on trans issues as multiple state legislators rush to pass anti-trans laws:

A far-reaching media narrative has incorrectly identified the alleged armed assailant at a Texas megachurch as a transgender woman, adding fuel to a moral panic as legislators across the country push a raft of laws restricting the lives of trans people in the United States. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/OspQnHpGMp

— Ari Drennen (@AriDrennen) February 13, 2024

Multiple Houston press outlets are reporting Monday that the woman who entered Joel and Victoria Osteen’s mega Lakewood Church, in southwest Houston on Sunday was armed with a long rifle.

Multiple independent sources told KHOU reporter Jeremy Rogalski that Genesse Ivonne Moreno, 36, who had begun firing almost upon entering was killed by two off-duty law enforcement officers who were working at Lakewood Church. One is a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agent who is 38-years-old with four years of service. The other off-duty officer is an Houston Police Department officer who is 28-years-old with two years of service.

Per law enforcement records, Moreno also had identified as Jeffery Escalante in the past, and had prior arrests for assault, forgery, marijuana possession, theft, evading, and unlawful carrying weapon

— Jeremy Rogalski (@JRogalskiKHOU) February 12, 2024

The shooter walked into the Houston megachurch with a 5-year-old child while wearing a trench coat and carrying a backpack that she reportedly announced had explosives inside. Law enforcement searched her and her vehicle, no explosives were found.

KHOU and the Houston Chronicle are reporting Moreno, who had used the name Jeffery Escalante, had an extensive criminal history dating back to 2005, according to a Texas Department of Public Safety records search. Prior arrests include failure to stop and give information, assault of a public servant, assault causing bodily injury, forgery, possession of marijuana, theft, evading arrest and unlawful carrying weapons.

In a Sunday press conference Houston Police Chief Troy Finner told reporters in addition to Moreno, who was shot to death by the off-duty officers returning her fire, the 5-year-old boy accompanying her and a 57-year-old man were both hit by gunfire. Finner that the child was taken to a hospital in critical condition, the man was wounded in his leg.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo is calling for investigators to look into whether or not the shooting was a hate crime targeting Latinos, the Houston Chronicle reported. The shooter arrived at the church just minutes before a Spanish-language sermon was scheduled to begin.

“I don’t want to talk about her motivations because I don’t know. Right?” Finner said at the Sunday press conference.

The Houston Chronicle reported members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, the Houston Police Department, the Conroe Police Department and Texas Rangers arrived at Moreno’s suburban Houston area home in Conroe, Texas, north of Houston home, hours after the Sunday shooting to collect evidence. 

A motive for the shooting is unknown at this time.