Gov. Tom Wolf (D-PA) accused Jenna Ellis, a senior legal adviser for President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, of “hate speech” Monday for calling Rachel Levine — the transgender Pennsylvania Secretary of Health — “a guy.”
Ellis had earlier posted a story on social media about Levine, the Pennsylvania Secretary of Health, with the comment, “This guy is making decisions about your health.” The story covered an incident in May when Levine, who is biologically male, castigated a reporter for “misgendering me” by using the term “sir.” “It’s really insulting,” Levine said, as the man quickly apologized.
This guy is making decisions about your health.https://t.co/gaqGBbXbOC
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) August 10, 2020
Wolf admonished Ellis publicly with his office’s official Twitter account: “Misgendering a transgender person is hate speech and it’s unacceptable,” he wrote Monday afternoon.
To @JennaEllisEsq and whoever else needs to hear this: Misgendering a transgender person is hate speech and it’s unacceptable.
— Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) August 10, 2020
Ellis promptly rejected Wolf’s comment, saying that he was “misgendering” Levine by rejecting “biological fact and instead [spreading] lies and feelings.”
To @GovernorTomWolf and whoever else needs to hear this: misgendering a person occurs when you do not accept biological fact and instead spread lies and feelings, and it’s ridiculous. https://t.co/mG98p53iWw
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) August 10, 2020
My full statement to @washingtonpost @feliciasonmez and @Newsweek in response to @HRC calling me a “bigot” ⬇️
Notably, neither outlet published it in full in their coverage of the fauxrage. pic.twitter.com/l1Qh3pdRbz
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) August 11, 2020
Numerous polls show that most Americans are sympathetic to the very small percentage of people who want to live as members of the opposite sex.
But the same polls also show that the vast majority of Americans wish to perverse the many laws and subtle cultural norms that allow men and women to best cooperate and compete. For example, polls show very strong support for single-sex sports leagues, even among “woke” liberals — aid growing sympathy for the rising number of young men and women who are trying to de-transition from their teenage claims to have been transgender.
However, top deputies in Trump’s White House are reluctant to tackle the issue in the 2020 election, according to an August 7 report in Politico:
“This might become a hot cultural issue, but it’s not a thing yet. Right now, it’s just an easy issue for the other side to attack us on. They will call us bigots,” said one senior adviser to Trump’s reelection campaign.
…
“I think it could be one stroke of a pen for President Trump to simply say that Title IX … means that females compete in women’s sports and males compete in men’s sports,” said Doreen Denny, vice president of government relations at Concerned Women for America, a group that’s repeatedly praised the president’s job performance and hosted senior Trump administration officials at its promotional gatherings.
…
“It’s gross negligence to avoid the transgender debate and treat this suite of issues as irrelevant,” contended one Republican who speaks with Trump regularly.
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