Houston DL List? Trans Woman Faces Backlash for Exposing Men Sliding into Her DMs

Entertainment News

The internet was set ablaze last week when a transgender influencer by the name of Aliah Zani-Batiz released a list of alleged DL men in the Houston, Texas area.

The list, which has been tentatively titled the "Houston DL List," has been highly debated across the internet, with some questioning the motives behind Zani-Batiz exposing her private conversations, others challenging the culture surrounding down-low men and the transgender women who date them.

In her original post shared to TikTok, Zani-Batiz scrolls through a screen recording of her direct messages from Facebook dating back to 2022.  In the 17-minute video, you can see a bevy of messages from various men ranging from casual conversations to some looking for sexual encounters. 

“Let me hit?", “Hey, sexy”, and “Can I taste the rainbow?”. While the sexuality of some of the men can't be confirmed, a few seemingly are in committed relationships, others have partners and children. 

Despite opting to remove the original post from her social media, in classic internet fashion, it made its rounds on just about every major social media platform, and not without debate. Some people alleged their family members were exposed on the list, and others questioned Zani-Batiz's motives behind exposing the information to begin with.

A TikTok user, @therealdashaa, alleged she attended high school with Zani-Batiz. She then revealed that one of the men shown in Zani-Batiz messages was the father of her children.

“How can you all embarrass us like that?” she said, referring to the men on the list. 

She continued, alleging the father of her children wasn't the only man she recognized on the list. “I know a whole bunch of them people who were on the list. At least 10 of them have been in my inbox. It’s crazy. You don't have to hide your truth,” she said.

Another TikTok user by the name  @dailydosesofdee said he believes the backlash the men on the list are receiving is unwarranted, “What really got me is ya’ll ain’t mad at the men who sent the messages, ya’ll mad at her for telling,” he said.

“What I’m saying is DL men exist in every city and ya’ll love to play dumb about it.”

He continued, calling out commentators who referred to Houston as the new Atlanta due to the list calling out DL men specifically in Houston. “Correction, babe, Houston has been the new Atlanta,” he exclaimed.  

YouTuber “IAM ASIA” discussed the list in a lengthy video reacting to the list. In the video, she alleges that one of the men messaging Zani-Batiz had previously taken her on a date. In another portion of the video, she calls out Zani-Batiz for exposing the people under the desk saying.

“You are a woman, you are just not biologically a woman, and men are supposed to be interested in you.”  

She continued by questioning  Zani-Batiz's intention in exposing the messages. “By you shaming them, you are promoting toxic masculinity. Are you a woman or are you not a woman? If you went through the sex change, what is there to be ashamed of?’ she said.

In another portion of the video, she said she's seen instances when transgender women get angry and use their transgender identity to compete with cisgender women and shame men who are attracted to them. “You are a woman, What is wrong with a man being in your DMs outside of them cheating?; she said. 

On X, user @Te_Erika shared a video echoing the same sentiments as "IAM ASIA," calling out Zani-Batiz. "Aliah is using her identity as a trans woman to hurt men because they're attracted to her," she said.

In one portion of the video, @Te_Erika shares several sexually charged photos of Zani-Batiz. "She is setting thitsy traps for men and then getting mad that they want something to drink. She is shaming men for liking her. That sounds like self-hatred to me.' she said.

She continued saying she felt Zani-Batiz sharing her private messages was embarrassing women, more specifically trans women. "She is pushing men back farther into the closet," she said.

A few commentators under @Te_Erika's post, however, backed Zani-Batiz. X user @TJMedias wrote, "That’s not the problem, let’s think about what the MEN do or SAY about trans people. Maybe THAT’S why she exposed them?!"

Another user, @besorealback, wrote, "No DL men don’t deserve protection, idk what it is with women, especially straight women with wanting to protect DL men."

While everyone else took a more serious approach to discussing the matter, TikTok user @Ebony713 made light of it, posting a meme captioned “POV: Nobody you ever dated/talked to is on that Houston DL list!”