Gay People Targeted with ‘Re-Education Camp’ Texts
LGBTQ people are among a host of groups receiving offensive, inflammatory texts in the wake of Donald Trump's electoral victory.
In the wake of Donald Trump’s win in the 2024 election, some voters have been receiving offensive text messages.
The FBI said in a statement that it is aware of a flood of texts aimed at LGBTQ people being told to report to a “re-education camp,” an apparent reference to conversion therapy.
Diana Brier, a 41-year-old lesbian, told The New York Times that she received one of the texts referring to an executive order and instructing her to check in to be transported to an undisclosed location for an “LGB re-education camp.” The message also mentioned Trump and the date of his inauguration.
Even though she knew the text message was not real, Brier said it raised concerns about what might happen to LGBTQ people or their civil rights under the Trump-Vance administration.
“The timing is not a coincidence,” Brier said of the message’s arrival. “There’s a lot of concern among my queer friends about what’s going to happen to us.”
Similarly, Latino communities have been receiving messages telling them they have been selected for deportation. Those text messages come after a wave of texts sent to African American and Black communities telling them to report to plantations because they had been selected to “pick cotton” as slaves.
Some of the texts reference Trump’s win or the Trump administration, although Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the campaign “has absolutely nothing to do” with the messages.
According to the FBI, the troublesome texts have expanded the pool of recipients to include high school students. Some messages have also been sent via email and are so specific they refer to recipients by their names.
It remains unclear whether the identities were obtained from a data breach of some kind. It is also unclear whether the source of the anti-gay or anti-Latino messages were from the same source that had sent the anti-Black text messages.
“Although we have not received reports of violent acts stemming from these offensive messages, we are evaluating all reported incidents and engaging with the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division,” the agency said in its statement. “We are also sharing information with our law enforcement partners and community, academia, and faith leaders.”
The FBI is encouraging recipients of the offensive texts or emails to report the details to the FBI by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or submitting a report online via tips.fbi.gov.
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