Twitter takes down U.S. Rep. Jim Banks’ tweet misgendering trans admiral Rachel Levine
A transphobic tweet by U.S. Rep. Jim Banks about the nation’s highest-ranking openly transgender official was taken down by the platform on Saturday.
Earlier this week, the Republican congressman who represents Indiana’s 3rd Congressional district misgendered Dr. Rachel Levine, U.S. assistant secretary for health, in a pair of tweets.
Levine, the nation’s highest-ranking openly transgender official, made history on Tuesday as the first openly transgender four-star officer in the uniformed services when she was sworn in as an admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
She was sworn in by Andrea Palm, deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, who noted the “historic step forward” toward equality her appointment symbolized.
The news quickly generated disparaging remarks from conservatives such as Banks, Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, as well as Fox News’ prime-time host Tucker Carlson.
In his now-blocked tweet, Banks commented on Levine’s impressive accomplishments by misgendering her.
On Saturday, Twitter removed one of his tweets for violating the platform rules designed to protect transgender people against “hateful conduct.”
“We prohibit targeting others with repeated slurs, tropes or other content that intends to dehumanize, degrade or reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes about a protected category,” the policy states.
“This includes targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals,” Twitter says.
Banks stood by his message telling IndyStar that his “tweet was a statement of fact.” He also criticized Twitter for trying to silence him.
“Big Tech doesn’t have to agree with me, but they shouldn’t be able to cancel me,” he said.
Ruben Gonzales, executive director of LGBTQ Victory Institute, said in a statement that Banks’ tweets were “an insult to every little girl who dreams of an America where public servants will treat them with respect and judge them by their accomplishments.”
“For him to go out of his way to denigrate Admiral Levine and those LGBTQ public servants tells us much more about him than it does about them,” he added.
