On Monday, Jenna Ellis, a Trump campaign adviser, intentionally misgendered Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine, who is a transgender woman, on Twitter.
“This guy is making decisions about your health,” Ellis wrote in a tweet that also an image and an article about Dr. Levine. Levine is leading Pennsylvania’s COVID-19 response.
Ellis is a senior legal advisor for Trump’s reelection campaign and she often appears on Fox News. She has a long history of making ugly anti-LGBTQ comments.
While appearing on NBC News she was asked about her intentional “public misgendering” of Dr. Levine. Earlier through a spokesperson, Ellis called the backlash to her comment “both hilarious and tragic.”
“The truth of biology shows that human beings are created immutably male and female. Yet in our post-truth society, the progressive leftists not only demand that we affirm patently false facts, but also demand we not ‘offend’ people who insist on speaking their lies, otherwise we are called insensitive bigots and required to apologize,” Ellis stated. “I won’t apologize.”
Dr. Levine is one of the country’s most high-profile transgender officials. A spokesperson for Levine stated that she “does not have time for this nonsense,” when asked for a response to Ellis’ tweet.
“Dr. Levine is laser-focused on assisting Pennsylvanians in the midst of a national pandemic,” Nate Wardle, the Pennsylvania Department of Health spokesperson, said.
Just last month a stream of hateful transphobic comments was made about Dr. Levine. Before one of her daily press conferences on the coronavirus, she took the time to address those comments.
“The multiple incidents of LGBTQ harassment and specifically transphobia directed at me that have been reported in the press. Our children are watching. They are watching what we do and they are watching how we act,” Dr. Levine passionately stated.
“And to all LGBTQ young people: It is OK to be you, and it is OK to stand up for your rights and your freedoms.”
Dr. Levine did not mention Ellis in any comments she has made because she, unlike Ellis, has dignity and morals. Instead she addressed the issue like the professional that she is.
Ellis’ misgendering of Dr. Levine is not the first time that she has publicly made hateful anti-LGBTQ remarks. Back in 2016, she called the designation of the historic Stonewall Inn in New York as a national monument a “celebration of sin.” In 2019, she blasted the Star Wars franchise for its plans to include LGBTQ characters.
“Why not also a Christian? Or a Muslim? Or a pedophile? Or every other representation of any subculture, belief, and lifestyle?” Ellis wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post. “This overwhelming need to have LGBT ‘representation’ everywhere shows the falsity of their cry for equality. They want absolute subjugation of culture.”
