Twitter temporarily suspended Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) — a candidate for U.S. Senate — after she dared to tweet that women’s sports teams should be reserved for biological females.
In the suspension-worthy post, Hartzler wrote, “Women’s sports are for women, not men pretending to be women,” in which she reportedly referenced University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas — a biological male who identifies as female — and referenced the athlete’s biological name, Will.
A spokesperson for Twitter told The Hill the lawmaker’s account was temporarily locked because she transgressed the social media company’s hateful conduct policy against harassing or violent messages targeting groups or individuals based upon their identity, gender, or sexual orientation.
“This includes targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals,” the Twitter representative told the outlet. “The account owner will need to delete the violative Tweet and spend 12 hours in read-only mode before regaining full access to their account.”
In a statement to the Associated Press, Hartzler’s campaign said the Senate hopeful would not delete the tweet. Consequently, it appears Twitter has removed the post from her account, stating it “violated the Twitter Rules.”
Hartzler’s campaign, which released an ad in February proclaiming the same message as her violative tweet, described the temporary suspension as “shameful, utterly ridiculous, and a horrible abuse of censorship by big tech giants to stifle free speech.”
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Faithwire reported in February 2021 that Christian author and talk radio host Dr. Michael Brown tweeted the truth about Dr. Rachel Levine, the U.S. assistant secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services. Levine, who identifies as a woman, is biologically male.
“Will I get punished by Twitter for saying that, in God’s sight, ‘Rachel’ Levine … is a man?” Brown tweeted Jan. 20, 2021. Just four days later, on Jan. 24, he was locked out of his account, he told Faithwire at the time.
Brown said his central concern with the left and censorship is the double standard that informs it.
“Our issue is censoring things on one side and not on another side,” he explained. “It’s one thing if a platform said, ‘Hey, these are our guidelines: they’re very narrow, they’re very clear. If you want to be a part of this, then you do this.’ It’s another thing when they truly are unfair toward Christians and conservatives.”
You can read the rest of his story here.
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