Rep. Nate Schatzline, Under Fire for ‘Drag’ Video, Accused of ‘Doxxing’ Keller ISD Mom

When Laney Hawes watched the resurfaced video of state Rep. Nate Schatzline running around in a dress, she — like many others — thought that it highlighted his “hypocrisy.” But her issues with the lawmaker go much deeper than that.

Schatzline, a Fort Worth Republican, is behind House Bill 1266, which would define restaurants, bars, nightclubs and “other commercial enterprises” that host drag shows as “sexually oriented businesses.” The proposed law stands in stark contrast to the recently uncovered video clip featuring Schatzline.

Hawes has locked horns with the lawmaker before.

“This is the sitting TX state legislator that doxxed me in February,” the mother of four young kids tweeted about Schatzline on Wednesday afternoon. “He held a campaign rally at my school district board meeting demanding biblical & Christian values in schools.”

This is the sitting TX state legislator that doxxed me in February. He held a campaign rally at my school district board meeting demanding biblical & Christian values in schools. @NateSchatzline https://t.co/8vxTurY2L5

— Laney Hawes (@LaneyHawes) March 1, 2023

Hawes’ tweet included screenshots from the now-viral resurfaced video, which had been viewed more than 58,800 times as of Thursday afternoon. It shows Schatzline as a teenager in a dishy little black number cut to mid-thigh, sleeveless but showing scant decolletage. In it, the Texas lawmaker runs and skips in a park; he also wears what looks like a red masquerade mask.

The way Hawes sees it, an “extremist takeover” has been taking place in her school district, Keller ISD. She noted the controversy over certain library books has prompted conservatives to call for many titles to be banned, particularly those pertaining to issues of sexuality and race.

Keller ISD’s school board recently decided to ban books related to gender fluidity, according to WFAA.

A public education advocate, Hawes is demanding an end to the wave of book bans.

Hawes’ “doxxing” remark is in reference to a retweet by Schatzline of a post that shared her home address. The original tweet mentioned a social welfare organization, Keller ISD Families for Public Education, which Hawes helped to create and which espouses advocating for public schools and teachers to help boost morale.
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“This is how politics works now, is that if someone disagrees with you, they put your family’s life at risk.” – Laney Dawes, Keller ISD parent

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The original post that Schatzline retweeted blasted Hawes as a “school library porn apologist” with an “anti-family agenda.” It further alleged that she has a “cohort of allies in the district” that includes “an ANTIFA gun club and satanists (no joke).”

The post, which has since been removed from Twitter, also listed Hawes’ and her husband’s legal names and their home address.

Hawes alleges that some have called for a protest outside her house. She said one woman even posted that she knew the layout of Hawes’ home.

The experience infuriated Hawes and made her fearful for her kids: A Texas lawmaker had shared her home address with thousands of social media followers.

“It made me angry that they would put my children and my family at risk like that, especially because all they want to do is ‘protect the children,’ right?” she said. “Like that’s their claim: Protect the children. And that’s not true.”

To Hawes, the move felt like a personal attack aimed squarely at her family, adding that she believes it’s a sort of intimidation tactic meant to silence her.

“This is where we are, I guess,” she said. “This is how politics works now, is that if someone disagrees with you, they put your family’s life at risk? It’s just wild.”

Schatzline’s office did not return the Observer’s request for comment by publication time. He did, however, post a video response to defend himself after news broke of the resurfaced clip of him in drag.

The “left-wing news media,” Schatzline claimed in his post, twisted the years-old clip out of context. He also said the video was merely part of a class project where his friends had “dared” him to don a dress.

Nate Schatzline has made his entire personality attacking the LGBTQ community, trans especially children, and vowed to ban drag shows in Texas.

Here is Nate… in drag. #txlege #iToldYouSo pic.twitter.com/Lq25Mx7cgY

— Michelle (@LivingBlueTX) February 28, 2023

Schatzline then vowed to continue fighting for the three Fs — faith, family and freedom — all while an instrumental loop of Dr. Dre’s “Still D.R.E.” featuring Snoop Dogg played in the background.

Hawes also pointed out that Schatzline is the founder of For Liberty & Justice, an organization aimed at elevating Christians into public office and mobilizing the church. The Fort Worth lawmaker recently created a video in which he stated that “all government comes from God,” and he vowed to ask the Holy Spirit to guide his policy decisions.

To Hawes, Schatzline’s anti-drag bill is a “waste of taxpayer money.” She agrees that kids shouldn’t be allowed into any sexually explicit shows but said there are already laws in place to prevent that.

“This is so stupid when our state has so many real issues at stake, right? School shootings, access to guns, you know, even drug problems — we have fentanyl,” she said. “There’s just so many things we could be spending our time and money on. This is not it.”