Twitter suspended Republican Senate candidate and Missouri Rep. Vicky Hartzler Tuesday after tweeting that women’s sports are not for “men pretending to be women.”
Twitter issued a 12-hour suspension against Hartzler for her Feb. 14 tweet that included TV ad footage criticizing University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, a biological male, for participating in and dominating women’s swimming since identifying as a female.
“I ran and coached girl’s track, and I won’t look away while woke liberals destroy women’s sports. Women’s sports are for women, not men pretending to be women,” Hartzler tweeted. “Some people are afraid to talk about it, not me.”
I ran and coached girl’s track, and I won’t look away while woke liberals destroy women’s sports.
Women’s Sports are for Women, not men pretending to be women.
Some people are afraid to talk about it, not me. pic.twitter.com/mmwZFORJss
— Vicky Hartzler (@VickyHartzlerMO) February 14, 2022
Hartzler’s campaign manager, Michael Hafner, tweeted a screenshot of the suspension Monday. (RELATED: Twitter Suspends Matt Walsh Over Transgender Tweets)
Height of stupidity reached today: @VickyHartzlerMO was BLOCKED from Twitter for saying “Women’s sports are for women.” #mosen pic.twitter.com/ILC5oADr6U
— 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐇𝐚𝐟𝐧𝐞𝐫 (@HafnerMO) February 28, 2022
Hartzler’s campaign condemned the platform’s move, calling the suspension “a horrible abuse of censorship,” according to the Associate Press.
The campaign said in a statement the suspension was “shameful, utterly ridiculous, and a horrible abuse of censorship by big tech giants to stifle free speech,” the outlet reported.
Twitter suspended the candidate on grounds of “hateful conduct,” which prohibits a user to discriminate or “promote violence” on the basis of an individual’s “gender identity.”
Hartzler has represented Missouri’s 4th district since 2011 and currently serves on the House Armed Services Committee and as the Ranking Member on the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee. According to her website, she is only two of Missouri’s representatives to support former President Donald Trump’s America First policies over 95% of the time.