Twitter blocks Christian news outlets for ‘hateful’ descriptions of transgender Biden nominee

“We believe Twitter’s blocking of this tweet and lockdown of our account discriminates against Focus on the Family’s The Daily Citizen on the basis of our religious affiliation,” the agency wrote.

By Josh Plank, World Israel News

Twitter locked the accounts of two Christian news outlets last week for alleged “hateful conduct” after the agencies tweeted descriptions of the gender of the Biden administration’s nominee for assistant secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Dr. Rachel Levine.

Focus on Family’s The Daily Citizen reported Monday that its account remained locked, while Catholic World Report said that its account was suddenly unlocked Friday with no explanation from Twitter.

Both agencies’ accounts were locked after tweeting descriptions of Levine on Jan. 19.

Catholic World Report tweeted, “Biden plans to nominate Dr. Rachel Levine, a biological man identifying as a transgender woman who has served as Pennsylvania’s health secretary since 2017, to be HHS Assistant Secretary for Health. Levine is also a supporter of the contraceptive mandate.”

In a tweet now removed by Twitter, The Daily Citizen said, “On Tuesday, President-elect Joe Biden announced that he had chosen Dr. Rachel Levine to serve as Assistant Secretary for Health at the Department of HHS. Dr. Levine is a transgender woman, that is, a man who believes he is a woman.”

Both news outlets reported receiving messages from Twitter informing them that their accounts had been locked for “violating our rules against hateful conduct,” and warning that “repeated violations may lead to a permanent suspension.”

“You may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease,” the notification said.

Neither news site agreed to remove the offending tweets, choosing instead to submit appeals which were both rejected.

“Our support team has determined that a violation did take place, and therefore we will not overturn our decision,” Twitter reportedly said.

The Daily Citizen wrote in its appeal that numerous outlets, including the White House, had reported on Levine’s transgender identification.

“Many of the articles and tweets explained that Dr. Levin was born male, believed he is really a woman, had surgery and opposite-sex hormones, and now identifies as a woman,” said The Daily Citizen.

“We believe Twitter’s blocking of this tweet and lockdown of our account discriminates against Focus on the Family’s The Daily Citizen on the basis of our religious affiliation,” the news site wrote.

The Family Policy Alliance, the lobbying arm of Focus on the Family, tweeted from a separate account, “CENSORSHIP ALERT: Twitter banned @FocusCitizen from their platform. The crime? A tweet which identified Asst. Health Sec. pick Rachel Levine as a biological male. If stating the facts gets you banned, none of us belong here. @Twitter, we’re wondering: #AreWeNext? RT to speak out!”