Texas AG misgenders Assistant Health Secretary Rachel Levine on Twitter

Some are accusing Twitter of applying its policy on hateful conduct unequally after it allowed a tweet from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that intentionally misgendered Assistant Health Secretary Rachel Levine to remain on its platform.

On Sunday, USA Today honored Levine, the first openly transgender Senate-confirmed federal official, as one of its “women of the year.”

In a tweet Thursday, Paxton shared an image of Levine from the USA Today feature and called her “a man.” Intentionally misgendering a transgender person, meaning referring to them with the wrong pronouns or by their birth gender, is offensive, and research has shown that it can have negative mental health effects on trans people.