Twitter flags Paxton tweet misgendering HHS official as ‘hateful content’
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Twitter hid a post Thursday from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton behind a notice that labeled it as "hateful content" after he misgendered a federal health official, which prompted him to threaten the social media platform with a lawsuit.
The tweet in question included a screenshot of a USA Today article naming Adm. Rachel Levine, the secretary of health at U.S. Health and Human Services and the first openly transgender official appointed by the Senate, as one of the "exceptional Women of the Year." Paxton paired that photo with his own caption reading, "Rachel Levine is a man."
LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, like the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), quickly denounced the tweet, called it offensive and expressed worry about the effect it would have remaining on the platform.
A dozen Texas Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. Sylvia Garcia of Houston, said they sent a letter Thursday asking for Paxton to withdraw his legal opinion and for Abbott to rescind his directive to DFPS. In an interview with KXAN Friday, Garcia said these actions are damaging families and the child protective system.
"No child should be in fear," Garcia said. "No child should be in fear that the government is going to intrude into their family decision making on medical care."
None of the protests, letters or other efforts has so far made the state's top Republican leaders reverse course on their directives about gender-affirming care for trans kids. Garcia said that should perhaps cause more people to vote.
"We need to work on making sure that our office holders are held accountable, and that they really are there to serve the people — and that means all the people," she said. "Trans children are God's children. They should be treated with the respect and dignity that they deserve."
