Ian Patrick, FISM News
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Social media giant Twitter has been taking action against users who are openly questioning the praise received by transgender figures, labeling it as “hate speech.”
Conservative voices in particular are questioning two recent examples: USA TODAY labeling the Biden administration’s Rachel Levine as one of many “Women of the Year,” and University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas winning the NCAA women’s swimming championship. Both of these people are biological men who say they have transitioned to being women and are being hailed by mainstream media for their accomplishments as women.
USA TODAY recently unveiled their “Women of the Year” list which included Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Rachel Levine, which describes the person as “the highest-ranking openly transgender official” in the federal government.
FISM News previously reported on Christian satire site, The Babylon Bee, poking fun at this announcement, sharing an article on Twitter titled “The Babylon Bee’s Man Of The Year Is Rachel Levine.” Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon then announced that Twitter had suspended the satire site’s account for “hateful conduct.”
As per Twitter rules, the account can be restored if the “hateful” tweet is deleted. However, Dillon said the Babylon Bee would rather lose its Twitter account than stop telling the truth.
A day later, Babylon Bee Editor in Chief Kyle Mann was also locked out of his personal account for bringing to light the contradiction of Twitter’s rules, tweeting, “Maybe they’ll let us back into our @TheBabylonBee Twitter account if we throw a few thousand Uyghurs in a concentration camp.”
The Babylon Bee's editor in chief has now been locked out of Twitter for hateful conduct. pic.twitter.com/toNL98w2mb
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) March 22, 2022
Adam Mann, creator of the Babylon Bee responded to the censorship, saying, “So, literally perpetuating genocide will not get you booted off Twitter, but making jokes criticizing those who do, will. Got it.”
Along the same lines, Turning Point USA Founder and President Charlie Kirk has been suspended for a tweet in which he explained Levine’s history. His tweet, referenced by former Trump senior legal adviser Jenna Ellis, asks, “Where are the feminists??” after saying Levine was named a “Woman of the Year” despite spending “54 years of his life as a man.”
.@charliekirk11 has now been suspended for “hateful conduct.”
This is a fight worth fighting. pic.twitter.com/uJzivc2zlU
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) March 22, 2022
However, like The Babylon Bee, Charlie Kirk is not keen on deleting the Tweet to have his account restored. Speaking with the John Solomon Reports podcast from Just the News, Kirk called it “a hostage situation” and said that he and his team won’t delete it.
“I refuse to bend the knee to Twitter,” Kirk added. Regarding his own tweet, Kirk said, “There’s nothing in here that’s inaccurate. There’s nothing in here that’s harassing.”
Just as Rachel Levine is being hailed as a great woman in government, UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas was named the female champion in the NCAA’s s 500-yard championship race despite being a biological male. Thomas dominated the competition finishing almost two seconds before the runner-up, 2020 Olympian Emma Weyant.
Twitter has also upped its censorship of anyone who speaks out against Thomas, banning and censoring content that is critical of the athlete. An example of this is reporter and podcast host Savanah Hernandez who reported from the NCAA championships, where she posted videos of interviews and the event itself, highlighting those who were critical of the transgender swimmer.
An interview that gained particular traction was one she did with a Virginia Tech swimmer who spoke of a teammate that was edged out of the NCAA championship race by Lia Thomas. “It’s hard to see someone who works every day and every night still not be able to compete against someone like that,” the Virginia Tech swimmer reportedly said.
Twitter removed her account altogether, so she cannot restore this specific account.
In an interview with The Daily Wire, Hernandez says she was taken down for what the social media site called “ban evasion.” She explains that she “had a personal reporting account back in 2020.” One day, then-President Trump retweeted a video she took of his Million MAGA March. She later discovered that Twitter banned her account without giving a reason.
She created a new account for her podcast, Rapid Fire with Savanah Hernandez, which she used to post her reports since her personal account was taken down. Twitter banned this podcast account on Tuesday under the so-called “ban evasion.”
Hernandez again noted that there was no follow-up explanation as to what specific tweet or tweets may have caused her removal from the site. However, as The Daily Wire writes, she “believes what she was reporting is what really triggered the ban.”
Hernandez expressed her frustration on Instagram, showing a photo of the Tech swimmer in the interview with the line, “This is who Twitter silenced when they deleted my podcast account.”
“I’m not upset that I’ve been silenced. I’m upset that these young, brave women have been silenced. That the insanity of the LGBTQ community has been once again deleted,” she added.