On April 19, Governor Greg Abbott spoke at the Young Conservatives of Texas gala at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, voicing an opinion that would later become enshrined in the Texas Republican Party platform and spreading misinformation spawned by a far-right influencer whose posts have repeatedly incited threats against the subjects of her ire.
“Just up the street from where we are right now is Lewisville,” Abbott said. “They had a high school teacher who was a man who would go to school dressed as a woman in a dress, high heels, and makeup. Now, what do you think is going through the mind of the students in that classroom? Are they focusing on the subject this person is trying to teach? What I do know are these two things. This person, a man, dressing as a woman in a public high school in the State of Texas is trying to normalize the concept that this type of behavior is okay. This type of behavior is not okay, and this is the type of behavior that we want to make sure we stop in the State of Texas.”
Abbott was referring to Rachmad Tjachyadi, a Lewisville ISD public school teacher who resigned from his job in March amid social media outrage after a video circulated of him wearing a pink dress. Chaya Raichik, a right-wing social media personality known online as LibsOfTikTok, highlighted it in an inflammatory post that falsely claimed Tjachyadi has taught while “dressed in full drag and has a fetish for wearing women’s clothing.” Abbott promoted a post on X that featured the video shared by LibsOfTikTok.
