Lawmaker Locked Out of Twitter Account for Calling Transgender Government Official a Man

Ailan Evans

•   October 25, 2021

Twitter flagged a tweet from Rep. Jim Banks sent out on Oct. 19 calling Dr. Rachel Levine, who is transgender, a man, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.

“The title of the first female four-star officer gets taken by a man,” Banks, R-Ind., said in a now-locked tweet, in reference to Levine getting sworn in as a four-star admiral to the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps on Tuesday.

Lawmaker Locked Out of Twitter Account for Calling Transgender Government Official a Man

The tweet was flagged as “hateful conduct” and Banks’ account was temporarily restricted until he deletes the tweet.

Levine, who was born a man as Richard Levine and transitioned in 2011, previously served as Pennsylvania health secretary and attracted controversy for ordering nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients early in the pandemic.

Lawmaker Locked Out of Twitter Account for Calling Transgender Government Official a Man
A screenshot of a now-locked tweet by Rep. Jim Banks calling Dr. Rachel Levine a man. (Screenshot: Twitter/Rep. Jim Banks)

Twitter did not immediately respond when reached for comment by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Twitter’s “hateful conduct” policy expressly prohibits referring to a transgender person by a gender other than the one they prefer.

“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. This includes targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals,” the policy reads.

Banks issued a statement from his personal account Saturday in response to Twitter’s actions.

“We can’t allow Big Tech to prevent us from telling the truth,” Banks wrote. “When Republicans take back the House next year, we must restore honesty to our public forums and hold Big Tech accountable.”

My statement on being censored for tweeting a basic truth and banned from using my official account at @RepJimBanks? https://t.co/N5MBvJKz6g pic.twitter.com/bwQxhRAUOO

— Jim Banks (@Jim_Banks) October 23, 2021

Banks had also tweeted about Levine again later on Oct. 19, although this tweet was not locked nor flagged.

“Calling someone that was born and lived as a man for 54 years the first 'female' four-star officer is an insult to every little girl who dreams of breaking glass ceilings one day,” he wrote.

Calling someone that was born and lived as a man for 54 years the first "female" four-star officer is an insult to every little girl who dreams of breaking glass ceilings one day. https://t.co/bHKmJbE6cA

— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) October 19, 2021

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of this original content, email [email protected].

Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email [email protected] and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the url or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.

Ailan Evans | Contributor
Ailan Evans is a reporting fellow with The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Follow on X AilanHEvans

Oneil The Woketopus book cover

Read the first chapter of The Woketopus right now for FREE

Today, even with President Trump’s victory, leftist elites have their tentacles in every aspect of our government.

The Daily Signal’s own Tyler O’Neil exposes this leftist cabal in his new book, The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government.

In this book, O’Neil reveals how the Left’s NGO apparatus pursues its woke agenda, maneuvering like an octopus by circumventing Congress and entrenching its interests in the federal government.
You can read the first chapter of this new book for FREE in this eBook, The Woketopus: Chapter One using the secure link below.