Twitter Says Anti-Trans Tweets Targeting Rachel Levine Violates Platform’s “Hateful Conduct” Policy; Outlets Say “Will Continue To Speak Truth”

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The Twitter account of conservative publisher The Christian Post was limited on Monday after the group was accused of violating the platform’s “hateful conduct” policy by referring to transgender Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine as a man.

The offending tweet was issued by The Christian Post on March 15, and said, “USA Today names Rachel Levine, a man, among its ‘Women of the Year.” The news outlet has since stated that they had intentionally referred to Levine as a man, according to reporter Brandon Showalter.

“The reason that The Christian Post is such a stickler for language, especially when reporting on the developments of transgender ideology, is because we value the truth,” he said. “If we fail to maintain the integrity of what and how we report on these hot-button issues, we do a great disservice to our readers who count on us to communicate honestly. We simply cannot in good conscience overwrite the truth of our physiology with words that have no meaning or the opposite meaning.”

Levine, 64, was born a biological male, but transitioned to female in 2011.

The Christian Post was notified of their policy violation by Twitter on Sunday, and as punishment several of the features of their account – such as the ability to like, follow, or retweet content – were curtailed, but would be reinstated within 12 hours after the tweet in question was deleted.

Twitter’s “hateful conduct” policy includes “targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals.”

However, the religious news group has stated they will not remove the tweet and are attempting to appeal Twitter’s decision, saying that “We will continue to speak the truth even if it costs us our Twitter account.”

Sunday, Twitter also limited the access of another conservative account – The Babylon Bee – after the satire website had linked to their article declaring “The Babylon Bee’s Man Of The Year Is Rachel Levine.”

Again, Twitter noted that normal account functions will be restored if the tweet is deleted, something that The Babylon Bee’s CEO Seth Dillon said will not happen.

“We’re not deleting anything. Truth is not hate speech,” he said. “If the cost of telling the truth is the loss of our Twitter account, then so be it.”