Twitter, Truth and Transgenderism: Catholic outlet suspended for Biden nominee report

Denver Newsroom, Feb 1, 2021 / 05:18 pm (CNA).- Catholic World Report is no longer suspended on Twitter, but the publication is still concerned about the social media giant’s action against its post describing Biden appointee Dr. Rachel Levine as “a biological man who identifies as a transgender woman.”
The Twitter post linked to a Jan. 19 news report under the headline “Biden taps supporter of contraceptive mandate to HHS position.” The report was about President Joe Biden’s plans to nominate Levine as his Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health. It was syndicated from Catholic News Agency, and carried the byline of CNA journalist Matt Hadro. The description of Levine comes from the article.
“It's evident that Twitter locked our account for several days because they deemed the description of Dr. Levine ‘a biological man who identifies as a transgender woman’ as not just offensive, but even hateful,” Carl E. Olson, editor of Catholic World Report, told CNA Feb. 1. “We’ve even had comments and e-mails stating the same, although the vast majority of comments and correspondence have been very supportive of Catholic World Report in this matter.
“But the descriptive is not hateful; it is not even ideological by any reasonable norm,” said Olson. “This is really an example of what Pope Francis rightly calls ‘gender ideology’.”
Catholic World Report was launched in 1991. It is published by Ignatius Press, a Catholic publishing company founded over four decades ago by Father Joseph Fessio, S.J., a former student of Pope Benedict XVI.
The Catholic media outlet was informed of the Twitter suspension Jan. 24. It sought further explanation in a Jan. 25 message appealing the decision.
“Our support team has determined that a violation did take place, and therefore we will not overturn our decision,” the social media giant replied Jan. 27. “You will not be able to access Twitter through your account due to violations of the Twitter Rules.”
While the publication declined to delete the post, as of Feb. 1, its Twitter account had been unlocked online, and the post is still visible. There was a six-day gap between its Jan. 23 and Jan. 29 tweets.
Catholic World report went “entirely online” in late 2011, the same time period in which it launched its Twitter account, Olson said in a Jan. 28 blog post. The publication now has about 8,500 followers on Twitter. Most of its posts to Twitter have been links to “articles, reviews, interviews, and news briefs, with a headline, short descriptive, and links.”
Twitter said the tweet about Levine violated rules against “hateful conduct.” The Twitter message to the Catholic publication cited its policy barring harassment of others on the basis of gender or gender identity, among other characteristics. Repeated violations may lead to permanent suspension on Twitter, the note said.
Twitter has over 180 million monthly active users around the world.
The social media company did not respond to further inquiry from Catholic World Report. Twitter did not respond to CNA’s request for comment by deadline.
In its expanded section on hateful conduct, Twitter policy says “We prohibit targeting individuals with repeated slurs, tropes or other content that intends to dehumanize, degrade or reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes about a protected category. This includes targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals.”
“Misgendering” is the gender-based description of someone that the person would not himself use, while “deadnaming” is using the name of a person before he or she underwent a purported gender transition.
For Olson, the “gender ideology” he sees in Twitter’s actions has links to critical theory. A key component of this is “to fixate on supposed abuses of power taking place through language, often to a point of absurdity.”
This “obsession with victimhood and systems of power and privilege (whether actual or not),” Olson told CNA, has led to “an Orwellian approach to language.” Citing Josef Pieper’s Abuse of Language, Abuse of Power, Olson said “those who control language, or are able to change language according to ideological ends, are really working to have power over others.”
“So, a key issue is truth and how best to describe and express reality within the limits of language,” said Olson. The standards of language are also “continually shifting,” he said. “A few years ago, the tweet in question would probably have been praised for identifying Dr. Levine in such a way; more recently, it would par for the course. Now it is considered offensive or hateful.”
Olson said the description of Levine is accurate, even if it does not provide “a comprehensive explanation of Catholic teaching.” Such descriptions are necessary for Catholic publications to serve their readers, he said.
“While those who are in the middle of these battles are quite familiar with the terrain and language, there are many readers who aren’t,” he added. “Not everyone understands what a ‘transgender woman’ is. I’ve talked with more than a few folks who don’t really know what ‘transgender’ means, or maybe wonder, ‘Is a “transgender woman” a man who has become a woman or a woman who has become a man?’ It’s necessary and legitimate to communicate as clearly as possible about such things, mindful of the particular intent of the piece in question.”
The Daily Citizen, a publication of the Colorado-based evangelical Christian group Focus on the Family, was also suspended on Twitter for several days after a Jan. 19 post that said in part “Dr. Levine is a transgender woman, that is, a man who believes he is a woman.”