Out Youth Austin promotes “transgenderism” to Texas minors. Someone who has struggled with gender dysphoria warns against believing this ideology.
Emelie Schmidt is a 25-year-old Texan in the southeast near Houston. When she was a teenager, she struggled with gender dysphoria. She explained to Texas Scorecard how establishment entertainment media and social media were her gateways into a dark world. She doubted she was really female. Maybe she was supposed to be male. She told her teachers to start calling her Jacob. The school met with her mom and warned her that Schmidt would kill herself unless she started calling her daughter Jacob. Her mother said no. The school called her Jacob anyway.
Schmidt said that encouraging her dysphoria worsened her mental health. It only improved, when she came out of it and accepted herself as female. This was covered in Texas Scorecard’s May 2024 investigative report.
With that in mind, Schmidt took a look at Out Youth Austin (OYA), particularly their promotion of gender mutilation and manipulation. Texas Scorecard has contacted OYA multiple times requesting comment. They chose not to respond.
Bad Memories
Schmidt found the nonprofit had a “Transgender Wellness” list of recurring events and groups. OYA has since restricted access to this list. Updated as of February 2023, it had multiple LGBT events. “It’s pretty horrifying because it’s geared towards children,” Schmidt said. Included is a “Gender Affirmation Support Group” at OYA’s office and an “Adult Night” weekly at the Playland Skate Center off of McCann Drive in Austin. “It was concerning to see that the adult group meets at a skating rink because that’s geared towards children,” Schmidt said. “There’s also a resource on there that I saw that helps homeless youth find homes. Just homes with random people on the Facebook group … [It] sounds very sketchy because there’s no vetting process.”
Schmidt also expressed concern about OYA’s channel on Discord—a social media application. “I saw they had a certain group that was for children; [it] says 14 to 19 years old, and it was moderated by adults,” she said. “It typically said questions will be asked from the adults, and the adults will lead the conversation. It just sounds very groom-ish, for lack of a better word.” This reminded Schmidt of her experience being groomed on social media when she was younger. She had joined a Facebook group called “Trans Hope United.” “The men on there sought me out. They will look at comments on LGBT Facebook pages from children and then private message them and get them to be trans,” she said. “It sounds like that’s what’s happening here. They’re seeking vulnerable children to turn them trans.”
Emelie Schmidt now as a happily married woman.
Out Youth Austin not only indoctrinates minors with the “transgender” ideology, but has also tried funneling them to risky medical procedures. Part one of this series covered that, but there’s more. Another OYA project is their Central Texas Transgender Health Coalition. It links to other LGBT groups, legal resources for changing one’s name and sex in government documents, and resources to promote transgenderism to healthcare professionals.
Getting Personal
OYA has more than events and a Discord channel. The nonprofit also offers counseling services for those who struggle with sexual identity. They’re offered for those as old as 29 to those as young as five. They also have a virtual peer support group. One part of the OYA website stated the age range for this is 12-18, but another part of the site has the age as young as 11.
More on the in-person side, OYA also offers what they call drop-ins. Every Sunday and Wednesday at 5 pm, the organization has a drop-in for teenagers (13-17). They also have a drop-in for pre-teens (9-12) every Sunday at 1 pm. These drop-ins are marketed for “LGBTQIA+ youth,” but little else is broadcast about what specifically occurs. The pre-teen and teen drop-ins have intake forms where attendees can indicate their “preferred” names and pronouns, as well as parents’ contact info. As with GSA clubs in schools, what attendees share with staff at these drop-ins is considered confidential up to a point. Exceptions required by state law include sexual abuse or if anyone 12-16 years old tells an OYA staff member that he or she is sexually active.
More information was provided about the young adult drop-in in a Google Slides presentation. This presentation was taken down after Texas Scorecard contacted Out Youth Austin.
The repeated push for secrecy when it comes to minors is concerning, particularly where it concerns this topic. As it turns out, there’s a reason for this.
In part three of this series, a former sex-ed specialist shares her inside view of OYA’s organization and its insistence that parents be excluded from discussions about their children.
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