Twitter suspended popular conservative commentator and podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey late Thursday afternoon for a tweet that said of transgender Olympic weightlifting competitor, Laura Hubbard, “Hubbard failing at the event doesn’t make his inclusion fair. He’s still a man, and men shouldn’t compete against women in weightlifting.”
For this, Stuckey received notification that she had violated Twitter’s policy against “hateful conduct.”
The company’s note went to say, “You may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.”
It’s unclear why the tech giant defined Stuckey’s statement as violent, threatening, or harassing as it highlighted a biological fact and was not said in reply to any other tweet nor directed at Hubbard, but rather offered opinion on a matter of public debate.
To regain access to her account, Twitter demanded Stuckey take down the offending tweet and one other that said of Hubbard, “He’s an overweight middle-aged dude that still qualified for the Olympics by saying he’s a woman, so I don’t really think you’ve got a valid argument [that Hubbard’s loss proves biological men don’t have a competitive advantage] here.”
Stuckey, who is also an outspoken Christian, complied, but told The Daily Wire, “I believe all people, no matter their stated identity, are made in God’s image and as such have great value. But I won’t affirm the delusion that it’s possible for a man to become a woman, or vice versa. I’m for fairness, safety and the rights of girls and women. That means acknowledging biological differences between the sexes. I’m never, ever going to give an inch on that.”
Many past comments she has posted affirming her biblical belief that God created male and female and that individuals aren’t able to change their gender are still present on her account. One example: “Saying a man can become a woman is no less absurd than a human identifying as a bunny. This is why you don’t give an inch—ever. Minds and lives are at stake.”
Christian leaders on Twitter were quick to come to Stuckey’s defense. Jason Thacker, Chair of Research in Technology Ethics at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, said in a tweet thread:
“In a time where there is already a considerable amount of distrust in institutions, governments, and even social media companies themselves, ill-defined policies that seem to equate historic and orthodox beliefs on marriage and sexuality with the dehumanizing nature of real hate speech and violent conduct only widen the deficit of trust and increases skepticism over the true intention behind these broad policies.
Whatever you may think of [Stuckey’s] beliefs, we should all be able to agree that these policies are dangerous to public discourse and need to be amended to actually uphold free expression for all people, not just those with whom a company may agree.”