Another Republican voice has been censored by a Big Tech giant after she declared that women's sports are not for "men pretending to be women."
A Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives who is hoping to earn a set at the U.S. Senate in this year's elections was suspended on Twitter because she expressed her conservative views on trans-identifying biological men who compete in women's sports. Missouri Rep. Vicky Hartzler's Twitter account was suspended on Monday after she wrote, "Women's sports are for women, not men pretending to be women."
According to the Christian Post, the 61 year old Republican congresswoman included in her tweet an ad that condemned allowing trans-identified biological men competing in women's sports. This has been allowed in the Olympics, collegiate sports, and even in some high school competitions.
Rep. Hartzler's Senate campaign manager, Michael Hafner took to Twitter to share a screenshot of the notice that the Republican congresswoman received from the Big Tech company explaining how her post had violated the social media platform's rules on "hateful conduct."
Hafner decried the move, calling Twitter hypocritical, as the Big Tech giant continues to allow the account of Russian President Vladimir Putin to be active. He went on to call Twitter's actions the "height of stupidity."
On Monday, Hafner tweeted, "Good: Murderous psychopath who invades sovereign nation causing death and wreaking destruction. BAD: [House Armed Services Committee member and] Congresswoman who says women's sports for women. INSANITY!"
Twitter's policy on "hateful conduct" prohibits the promotion of violence against other people "on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease."
Twitter's rules also said that it aims to protect "a diverse range of perspectives" and is "committed to combating abuse motivated by hatred, prejudice or intolerance." Twitter told Fox News that Rep. Hartzler's account would be reinstated 12 hours after she deletes the tweet in which she declared that female sports are not for "men pretending to be women."
According to the Associated Press, the ad that accompanied the tweet was the Republican congresswoman's TV ad in which she decried trans-identifying biological males participating in women's sports, specifically University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas. The Pennsylvania athlete previously competed as a man in the men's team, transitioned to becoming a woman and then went on to compete as a woman and break women's swim records, sparking outrage.
Rep. Hartzler said in the ad that "some people are afraid to talk about it," unlike her, who has "coached girl's track," Fox 2 Now reported. The Republican leader promised that she "won't look away while woke liberals destroy women's sports."
Rep. Hartzler is leaning into the issue of transgender participation in women's sports, an issue that has caught the nation's attention. Politico reported that as per a Gallup poll conducted last year, up to 62% of Americans supported requiring athletes to play only on teams that correspond with their birth sex.
Similarly, a poll conducted by the National Republican Senatorial Committee in September 2021 showed that 65% of respondents agreed with a statement that said, "allowing biological males to compete against women in high school and college sports is hugely unfair." The results were higher among Republicans, with 83% agreeing the same.
