Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, sparked backlash online on Saturday over her comments about Admiral Rachel Levine, a transgender federal official.
Levine, the first openly transgender federal official confirmed by the U.S. Senate, has been the United States assistant secretary for health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) since 2021 and has endorsed gender-affirming care for those going through puberty, saying it has the “highest support” from President Joe Biden’s administration.
In recent years, conservative lawmakers have been moving to limit LGBTQ+ people’s rights, with hundreds of bills aimed at these issues being introduced nationwide. Greene has been one of the Republican figures who has taken action against trans-related topics.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday, Greene shared her reaction to a video featuring Levine, which was produced by the HHS during Black History Month to raise awareness of the disproportionate impact of climate change on the Black community.
“Here is a man pretending to be a woman claiming the climate is hurting black Americans more than others. This is the Democrat Party. Mental illness on full display,” the congresswoman wrote in her post.
Newsweek has reached out to Greene’s office and Levine’s office via email for comment.
However, some have taken to X to slam Greene for her criticism of Levine and the transgender community.
X user ILoveMyDogs2023 wrote, “This person is a US citizen and has every right to be who she wants to be. What is un-American is YOU DONT WANT HER TO BE HERSELF. You want her to be who YOU think people should be. This isn’t a matter of wokeness. It is you discriminating against someone who is different than you.”
User bobbld wrote, “How about having an open mind to being accepting and inclusive of other people who are different than you?If that had been the case since you took office, you could have done more for the American people.”
Meanwhile, X user Nicholas James seemed to agree with the congresswoman’s comments and wrote, “Not a real Admiral either.”
This is not the first time Greene has taken aim at Levine as the congresswoman previously took to the House floor in November and said she had introduced an amendment to “castrate” Levine’s salary to $1, arguing that it was akin to Levine’s stance on gender-affirming genital surgeries.
While repeatedly misgendering Levine and using her birth name, Greene also accused Levine of “grooming” young adults and called her “a mentally ill man” who is “empowering kids to mutilate and castrate themselves.”
She continued: “My amendment uses the Holman rule (an amendment to appropriations legislation that can reduce the salary of or fire specific federal employees) to reduce, no castrate, the salary of assistant secretary for health Richard Levine to $1, the same way he supports castrating children who suffer from gender dysphoria.”
However, the amendment was rejected by 46 Republicans and 208 Democrats, while 170 Republican House members voted in favor of the amendment.
