Screenshot from video recorded by undercover independent journalist Tayler Hansen while investigating the new Transparent Closet at the First Christian Church of Katy, Texas, on Sept. 24, 2022. (Courtesy of Tayler Hansen)
‘They take the kids back there one by one’
The transgender ideology was first pushed on children through schools, frequently without the knowledge or consent of parents. Now, a church in Texas has opened a Transparent Closet, where children are encouraged to embrace the transgender lifestyle—also without the knowledge or consent of their parents.
The Growing Transgender Movement
Schools, once considered by parents to be a safe place for their children, have become indoctrination centers where children are encouraged, brainwashed, and even forced into adopting the transgender ideology, frequently without the knowledge or consent of the parents. Parents warned others that their children may be in danger of being indoctrinated into the transgender ideology. In Florida, one mother was horrified when her 13-year-old daughter inadvertently revealed that school officials wanted to know which bathroom she preferred to use “as a result of her requested name change.” More shocking was her discovery of a plan devised during a private meeting between her daughter and school officials—without her knowledge or consent—that their daughter would be comfortable rooming with boys on overnight school trips.
According to the Leon County School District’s transgender gender nonconforming student support plan—filled out during a private meeting and obtained exclusively by The Epoch Times—a Part A “checklist” was used to record the child’s new non-binary status, “preferred name,” and “preferred pronouns.” The child also indicated that, while her parents were aware of her choice to identify as “non-binary,” they were not supportive and would not use her preferred name or pronouns at home.
After months of similar secret meetings with a school counselor at Paterson Elementary School in Fleming Island, Florida, a 12-year-old girl attempted suicide on school property—twice.
There is an explosion in the number of children who identify as transgender in the United States. In an effort to fight back, some parents have even filed lawsuits. Experts in both the United States and the United Kingdom have warned that the surge in the number of children seeking to change their gender is directly related to peer pressure on social media. According to one report, parents have been warned that “transgender influencers” from the LGBT community are patrolling social media and actively recruiting young, vulnerable children to join their movement, promising a place to belong. These influencers “prey on the vulnerability of children” while actively trying to “replace the loving influence of parents in children’s lives and hearts with their own ‘welcoming and accepting’ rainbow community.”
A study by a Brown University professor in August of 2018 showed how a new “social contagion” called “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” among teens and young adults may be linked to increased internet contact with peers who identify as LGBT in an identity politics peer culture—was quickly yanked from Brown’s news releases following objections from transgender activists.
Another ‘Family Friendly’ Event
It was Tayler Hansen who exposed the new church trans event. Hansen—the same independent, undercover reporter who exposed the “Drag Your Kids to Pride” event in Dallas, Texas, billed as a “family friendly” performance where kids were encouraged to give money to half-naked drag performers and to participate in the show—again dawned a disguise to infiltrate a Drag Bingo event at a church in Katy, Texas.
During what was billed as another “Family Friendly” event, an establishment calling itself the First Christian Church, hosted a Drag Bingo event on Sept. 24. The event does not appear on the church calendar, nor was it promoted on their Facebook page. But according to an Instagram post, the Transparent Closet debuted on July 15, at an event described as a “Fashion and Drag Show”–billed as “a coming out party”–featuring drag queens.
According to their website, The Transparent Closet “is a FREE clothing boutique designed for trans and exploring teens, youth and young adults to have a safe place for clothing needs and beyond.”
“When you come to the closet you will be welcomed into a space just for you,” the description reads further. “Here you will find all kinds of clothes, undergarments, shoes, hair accessories, style accessories, make-up and more.” The Transparent Closet is open Thursday through Saturday, or otherwise by appointment.
“It was similar to other events,” Hansen told The Epoch Times, describing how he showed up in disguise in order to explore the venue undetected. However, he also noted how “they’re starting to catch on to people going undercover to expose what goes on at these drag events so there was significantly more security.”
AK47s, Handguns, and AR-15s
“They had a security checkpoint where between 50 to 60 ANTIFA members were stationed for security,” Hansen recalled, noting that many of them were “armed with AK47s, handguns, and AR-15s.” One even had a pistol caliber carbine.
While Hansen said an email had been sent to those who purchased one of the $20 tickets for admission to the event proclaiming that no protesters from either side would be allowed at the event, he quickly discovered it was “obviously a lie.”
One video captured by Hansen shows hundreds of protesters from opposite camps shouting at each other from opposite sides of the street. At one point, Hansen said he saw ANTIFA members pepper spraying members of the Proud Boys, “and that was pretty much all of the violence for the entire night.”
Another video captured by Hansen shows a female supporter of the Drag Bingo/Transparent Closet event yelling at a member of the local sheriff’s department about the “anti-drag protesters outside of the event.” While repeatedly pointing her finger in the face of the officer with one hand, she holds a firearm in the other. It’s the type of firearm described by leftists as an “assault weapon,” the very sort of weapon they repeatedly try to have banned.
Hansen also saw three black female Katy, Texas, police officers, in uniform, checking parking passes and handing out parking passes.
“I’ve never seen police officers working private security while in uniform at such a politicized event,” Hansen noted.
According to GA-0435, a “reserve peace officer employed by a municipal police department may not wear his official uniform and display the insignia of an official law enforcement agency while working as a private security officer licensed by the Texas Private Security Board.”
Several inquiries to First Christian Church by The Epoch Times—to verify whether or not the three police officers were “licensed by the Texas Private Security Board,” and whether or not they were hired for private security during their off-duty hours or assigned by the department to check parking passes during the event—went unanswered.
Once past that checkpoint, Hansen said there were two “muscled gays,” dressed in drag and wearing makeup, who “appeared to be acting as bouncers.”
The Transparent Closet
Once he was on the church property, Hansen saw a metal trailer, which was where the church was hosting the Drag Bingo event. The trailer, he said, is attached to “the actual church building.” It’s also where the Transparent Closet is located. As he entered the trailer, Hansen said there were two girls sitting at a table with a bucket of pens, raffle tickets, and drinking wrist bands “because they were selling alcohol inside of the church.”
“I thought that was a little peculiar,” Hansen said, adding that because he has exposed what goes on at enough of these events he knew it would be unwise “to accept a drink from anyone at any of these events.”
Another oddity was the pins that were handed out to those who attended the event. They were round, with a black background, printed with bold, rainbow, all capital lettering that said: “NOT ALL CHRISTIANS SUCK.”
During the 30 minutes Hansen sat waiting for his turn to tour the closet, he saw approximately eight unaccompanied children who appeared to be under the age of 10, and around five whom he estimated to be around 13 to 14 years old—being taken into the closet—alone.
“In my video, there were two guys referred to as Church Worker #1 and Church Worker “2,” Hansen explained. “They’re basically walking around pulling children away from their parents, if they even had parents there. If the kids are unaccompanied, they’re just walking up to them offering a tour of the Transparent Closet. Then they take the kids back there one by one.”
When it was Hansen’s turn for a tour, Church Worker #2—who Hansen said is seen “struggling to open his doughnut bag the entire time”—started saying how he could provide him with “nipple tassels or nipple covers.”
The video shows Church Worker #1 and Church Worker #2, describing the various items made available to the children. Particular attention is given to the chest of drawers, where chest binders, underwear and bras can be found.”
“We’re trying to get more binders and things like that,” Church Worker #1 explains, adding that the “can’t get those” or underwear used “’cause it’s gross.”
Off camera, Hansen said the workers described chest binders as “a confidence booster.”
“That’s how they see it in their eyes,” Hansen said. “It’s a way to express your gender ideology.”
“There’s purses, there’s hats,” Church Worker #2 exclaims, seeming to make a reminder to himself aloud that they “need more hats.”
“Do you want jewelry, darlin’?” Church Worker #2 chimes in, pointing to their collection of “necklaces, bracelets, rings, and earrings.”
Church Worker #1 tells Hansen that they try to make the Transparent Closet “look like a store as much as possible.” He then explains how the bags they give the kids to take home the items they select from the Transparent Closet make it easier for them to hide it all from their parents.
‘I Went Shopping. I Went to Home Goods’
In the video, Church Worker #1 openly admits to Hansen that children are provided bags from Home Goods for a very specific reason.
“The bags are the bags they are” because “anyone can go home with those bags and it’s like ‘I went shopping. I went to Home Goods,’” he explains, “because we get a lot of teens, families aren’t supporting.”
Home Goods is a national retail chain that specializes in “home décor from around the world.”
“They have it designed so that when you go home and your parents aren’t accepting or they don’t want you engaging in all the gender ideology, they’ll just see a Home Goods bag and won’t worry about it,” Hansen explained.
The Epoch Times reached out to Home Goods to find out if they were aware that shopping bags, bearing their company name, were being used by First Christian Church in an intentional effort to help children hide the transgender clothing they are obtaining from the church from their parents.
“Thanks for reaching out,” Jessica Stevens, Home Goods public relations manager responded by email, “but we wouldn’t have anything to add to your story.”
According to Hansen, there are two female pastors at the church. One is named Amanda. He is not familiar with the other one. Aside from Senior Pastor Rev. Heather Patriacca Tolleson, a second female pastor is not mentioned on their website.
According to Hansen, Amanda gave him a smug look when she noticed he was recording. She then began recording him. When Hansen went to go sit back down he was “swarmed” by around six other attendees who stood around him. Amanda then told him to follow her because he had to leave.
Once outside, he was confronted by one of the armed police officers, who told him he was going to “get trespassed” if her didn’t leave. She demanded that he hand over his parking pass so he could not get back inside.
According to Hansen, he wasn’t the only one there investigating the event. An associate of his, a man identified only as Paul, informed Hansen that drag queens were also dancing at the event. However, with the awareness that their events were being infiltrated by investigative journalists who would expose them if they got the chance, guests “were told to turn off their cell phones and that no photography or videos were allowed,” and that “anyone caught taking photos or videos would be removed immediately.”
For a church-sponsored Drag Bingo event benefitting something they called a Transparent Closet, Hansen said “there was little transparency” involved.
