--- description: Twitter suspended Jim Banks’ official account for calling Dr. Rachel Levine, the Assistant Health and Human Services Secretary, a man. title: Twitter Suspends Lawmaker for Misgendering Biden Appointee image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted156b0601321176/698a1e11011682caab981121/GettyImages-1235612569.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LGBTQ](/tag/lgbtq/) ## LGBTQ Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Twitter Suspends Republican Lawmaker Jim Banks for Misgendering Biden Appointee by [Bill Allison / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Bill Allison / Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 25, 2021 1:23 AM CUT  Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., leaves the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, September 30, 2021. Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., leaves the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, September 30, 2021.Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images by [Bill Allison / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Bill Allison / Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 25, 2021 1:23 AM CUT (Bloomberg) Twitter Inc. suspended Representative Jim Banks’ official account for calling Dr. Rachel Levine, the Assistant Health and Human Services Secretary, a man. Banks, a Republican from Indiana and a top conservative in the House of Representatives, violated Twitter’s terms of service, which bars users from harassing people based on their gender identity. He made the comment in a tweet referencing that Levine, a transgender woman, would be sworn in as a four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Levine will be the first woman to reach that rank. “The title of first female four-star officer gets taken by a man,” Banks said in the tweet, which Twitter removed on Saturday for violating its rules. Twitter bars users from attacks based on race, ethnicity, national origin and gender identity, among other reasons. Its rules state that misgendering transgender individuals is prohibited. On his personal account Banks was defiant. He tweeted that his official account had been suspended because he posted a fact without specifying what he wrote. He added, “I won’t back down.” Banks is chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a caucus of conservative House Republicans that helps the party craft its policies. Previous chairmen, whose ranks come from sitting members, include former Vice President Mike Pence, when he represented Indiana’s 6th District in Congress, and Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the second-ranking Republican. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6110023/twitter-jim-banks-rachel-levine/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6110023/twitter-jim-banks-rachel-levine/"},"headline":"Twitter Suspends Republican Lawmaker Jim Banks for Misgendering Biden Appointee","datePublished":"2021-10-25T01:23:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T10:27:29.629Z","description":"Representative Jim Banks’ official account called Assistant Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine a man","url":"https://time.com/6110023/twitter-jim-banks-rachel-levine/","keywords":["LGBTQ","wire","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted156b0601321176/698a1e11011682caab981121/GettyImages-1235612569.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Bill Allison / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted156b0601321176/698a1e11011682caab981121/GettyImages-1235612569.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act","caption":"Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act","creditText":"Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/lgbtq/","name":"LGBTQ"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6110023/twitter-jim-banks-rachel-levine/","name":"Twitter Suspends Republican Lawmaker Jim Banks for Misgendering Biden Appointee"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Biden to Sign Executive Order Reversing Trump's Ban on Transgender People Joining the Military","description":"President Joe Biden is signing an order Monday reversing a Pentagon policy that largely barred transgender individuals from joining the military.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ylmmVC49/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2021-01-25T18:41:24.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ylmmVC49.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6110023/twitter-jim-banks-rachel-levine/","duration":"PT1M30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6110023/twitter-jim-banks-rachel-levine/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```