Twitter refuses to delete Marjorie Taylor Greene’s latest ‘hateful’ transphobic tweets
Twitter won’t remove anti-trans tweets by Marjorie Taylor Greene because the social media platform says the remarks “may be in the public’s interest”. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty)
Twitter refused to remove “hateful” tweets by Marjorie Taylor Greene after the anti-trans politician misgendered and deadnamed Dr Rachel Levine.
Greene posted a video of the assistant secretary for health, who is the first openly trans official to be confirmed by the Senate and also a four-star admiral, on Twitter. In the video, Levine said she wanted to “support and empower” trans youth in the US instead of limiting their ability to receive gender-affirming care or participate in sports in their state.
Greene, who has a long history of opposing LGBTQ+ rights, decided to knowingly misgender Levine and deadname her in a vile tweet Monday (18 July). The Georgia state representative claimed Levine was pushing “pre-teen #WeenieChop”, using disgusting terminology to describe gender-affirmation surgery.
Trans rights have been used as a political flash point in the US with many politicians rallying against gender-affirming treatments – which have been described as ‘life-saving’ – for minors. Some states like Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee and Arizona are actively trying to limit how trans youth can access such care.
Greene then posted a follow-up tweet once again deadnaming and misgendering Levine as well as grossly questioning the four-star admiral’s personal history of gender-affirming care.
Twitter decided not to remove Greene’s vile remarks despite the social media platform having clear policies against “targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals”. Instead, it hid the tweets behind a tag that acknowledged the remarks violated Twitter’s hateful conduct policies.
A Twitter spokesperson told PinkNews the tweets did violate the social media website’s rules on hateful conduct, but Twitter “determined it may be in the public’s interest for them to remain accessible”.
“The tweets have been labelled in line with our policies, including restrictions on how people can engage with the tweets,” the spokesperson added.
Marjorie Taylor Greene has openly opposed LGBTQ+ rights. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty)
In March, Twitter also refused to remove a blatantly hateful tweet by Texas attorney general Ken Paxton about Levine. He faced immense backlash for intentionally misgendering the nation’s only openly trans four-star admiral, but Twitter decided to let the hateful remark remain up because it was in the “public interest”.
A GLAAD spokesperson condemned Twitter for not removing Greene’s hateful tweets in a statement to Axios.
“This account has repeatedly and intentionally violated Twitter’s Hateful Conduct guidelines against targeted deadnaming and misgendering of transgender people,” the spokesperson said.
“It’s clear that some politicians see pushing malicious, anti-trans content on social media as part of their election strategy, even with the full knowledge that such content is violative.”
It’s not the first time Greene has run afoul of Twitter’s rules. Twitter permanently suspended the Republican’s personal account in January for continuously spreading COVID-19 misinformation, which came after multiple offences.
Marjorie Taylor Greene has come under fire numerous times for making anti-LGBTQ+ comments, sharing misinformation and spreading conspiracy theories.
She previously touted QAnon conspiracy theories and once shared a video of her doing a CrossFit workout, claiming on Twitter it was her “COVID protection”. Greene also claimed straight people will become extinct in “four or five generations” and spread misinformation about the deadly Uvalde school shooting.
She lashed out multiple times against her colleague Marie Newman, a congresswoman from Illinois who has a trans child. The Georgia representative placed a hateful sign outside her office door across from Newman claiming there are “two genders”.
Greene pushed to ban kids from attending family-friendly drag events, claimed that ditching tired [binary] gender stereotypes will “destroy our country” and falsely blamed the tampon shortage in the US on trans people.
Marjorie Taylor Greene was stripped of her committee memberships; confronted a Parkland shooting survivor with baseless claims; compared mask mandates on the House floor to the Holocaust; and appeared to endorse violence against Democrat colleagues in posts on social media.
