Twitter this week suspended the personal account of a U.S. legislator after she made a comment about transgender athletes and linked to a political advertisement on the subject.
The tweet from Rep. Vicky Hartzler, a Missouri Republican who is running for U.S. Senate, referenced Penn’s Lia Thomas, who swam on the men’s team for three years before swimming on the women’s team this season.
Thomas’ success led USA Swimming to significantly tighten its rules on transgender athletes.
“Women’s sports are for women, not men pretending to be women,” Hartzler wrote in her tweet that linked to a political ad.
Twitter suspended her account, saying she violated Twitter’s rules against hateful conduct. Her campaign manager, Michael Hafner, posted a screenshot, calling it the “height of stupidity.”
Hartzler, though, says she will not delete the tweet.
“Twitter says I can’t speak the truth on their platform – well, they can just have their account back! I won’t delete my tweet, and I will keep speaking the truth!” she wrote on Facebook. “Women’s sports are for women, not men pretending to be women.”
