On Tuesday, Facebook suspended Robert A.J. Gagnon, a prominent Christian scholar on the topic of Bible sexuality, for 7 days. His crime? Speaking out against transgender ideology and President Joe Biden’s new transgender military policy. Facebook claimed that Gagnon’s criticism of this government-imposed ideology violated the platform’s “Community Standards on violence and incitement.”
Ironically, Gagnon’s post drew attention to Facebook’s suspension of his friend, Laurie Higgins, who got a 7-day ban for criticizing Biden’s policy.
“There was absolutely no incitement to violence on our part. We abhor violence done to any person,” Gagnon told PJ Media on Tuesday. “This is just a thinly veiled and pathetic excuse for censorship of any critical views toward trans-tyranny over our consciences, religion, and reason.”
“Only one point of view is being allowed,” he added, ominously. “Trump was not the great danger to the Republic. Left-wing canceling is.”
Gagnon, who holds a Ph.D. in Pauline theology and sexuality from Princeton Theological Seminary, has published “The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics.” He teaches as a professor of New Testament Theology at Houston Baptist University.
In the post Facebook flagged, Gagnon had defended Higgins’ response to Biden’s pro-transgender military policy.
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Gagnon got suspended for this post:
My friend Laurie Higgins has been suspended for 7 days, for making an accurate and witty satirical post, by left-wing FB overlords who seek to squash all dissent on the issue of transgenderism, no doubt emboldened by the Biden/Harris administration. There’s nothing inaccurate about this post.
- Biden’s lifting of Trump’s transgender military ban will indeed put women military personnel in the awful position of having to shower with biological males.
- Trans-promoters aren’t content with having men invade the domain of women’s sports and shelters.
- “Transgender” ideology is indeed a pseudo-science, compelling people to reject basic biological facts.
- Promoters of “transgenderism” do indeed exhibit traits of a religious cult in their mind-numbing, science-denying conformity. The censoring and suspending of Laurie HIggins rather proves the point, doesn’t it?
Gagnon sent PJ Media a photo of Facebook’s notice, warning that his post violated the site’s “Community Standards on violence and incitement.”
“We have these standards to prevent and disrupt offline harm,” Facebook assured Gagnon.
Facebook did not respond to PJ Media’s request for comment. The company did not explain how arguments against Biden’s pro-transgender military policy, warnings about men competing in women’s sports, claims that transgender ideology is “pseudo-science,” or claims that transgender advocates act like a religious cult would incite violence.
Biden’s Trans Agenda Threatens the Military, Science, and Women’s Rights
Robert P. George, McCormick professor of jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, took to Facebook to condemn the platform’s attack on Gagnon.
“Censorship on Facebook and some other social media has now gone way beyond the bounds of the reasonable, and is grossly violating representations about free speech made by CEOs and other officers of the major platforms,” George wrote. He described Gagnon’s suspension as “an egregious case.”
“We need robust free speech in what functions today as the public square. We need dialogue and debate. People need to be able to criticize and forcefully challenge ideas–including ideas that are dominant in elite sectors of the cuture and among people in the tech industry,” George argued. “What we do NOT need is the silencing of dissent. That is never a good idea. Once it starts and becomes normalized … things do not end well.”
“If anyone from FB is reading this comment, please, I beg you, reconsider the path down which you are going. It is not a good one. It is a healthy spirit of civil libertarianism we need; not dogmatism and the enforcement of groupthink,” the Princeton professor urged.
There are many good reasons to oppose Biden’s new transgender policies, and disagreeing with these policies does not constitute incitement to violence.
Miriam Ben-Shalom, the first lesbian to be reinstated to the U.S. Army after getting kicked out for her sexuality, has openly opposed the pro-transgender policy Biden instituted. Lt. Gen. Tom Spoehr, a Heritage Foundation scholar, also opposed the policy, claiming “it would be immoral to place individuals at higher risk from mental injury — such as those suffering from gender dysphoria — in a situation where they are likely to experience extraordinary stress.”
Biden’s pro-transgender policies will open women’s restrooms and changing rooms to biological males, destroys fair play in women’s sports by allowing males to compete, and sends the dangerous message that an amorphous gender identity matters more than biological sex.
There is no evidence that transgender surgery improves the mental health outcomes of gender dysphoric people. Men and women who formerly identified as transgender and underwent surgery have grown to reject transgender identity and lament the damage they did to their own bodies. Yet Joe Biden has endorsed transgender identity and activism even for children under age 10.
There are extremely good reasons to disagree with Biden’s policy, but beyond that, it is terrifying to see Facebook demonize dissent from a government policy by equating free speech with incitement to violence. Worse, the move comes as Democrats seem intent on starting a new domestic “War on Terror,” with former CIA Director John Brennan equating Libertarians with an ISIS-style “insurgency.”
Tyler O’Neil is the author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Follow him on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
Facebook sucks. So does dimwit Biden. It’s great the two people got band fo 7 days. Now you can start getting use to Communism. Hope all you Libs and Leftist are satisyfied. What y’all think out there Comrads. ???
If one is borned with a penis, he is and always will be man, facts! When will people wake the hell up, really? FB and twitter are going communism fast!
The people who went into the capital should have went into facebook headquarters. The only way to get our country back is to STOP facebook and any other platform that will not allow free speech. Why are you on facebook? You don’t need it, you didn’t have it before it came out and you were doing just fine without it. In fact, FB book has caused more harm than good. I entourage everyone to get off of FB now. Let the left wing liberals have it.
You are right!! Most people will not do it because they are addicted! Having another site would help but a person can’t believe anything anymore, so how do you know it really is a conservative site in which it supports the Constitution, Bill of Rights, Freedom, etc.?
Iam still trying to understand why anyone uses Facebook yet . it’s so far left up their ass for the commie delusional democrats . Guessing he wants part of that billon dollar contact with the government that at&t along with time Warner is getting from the government . Pay for favors is what it really is . You know the same thing they tryed to say trump was doing when he helped small bussness to create more jobs . not like old joe that just took away more then 70,000 jobs . I know fb is a easy way to talk to friends but you can still do it the old way to . Pick up a phone and call … it’s that simple . Unless you like living under some ones thumb like on commie fb
No dissenting opinions are allowed. And this is America?
Facebook is owned by one person. He can make any rules he wants. If he says he doesn’t like it, then it gets cut. Freedom of speech is his on Facebook. We can’t make him do anything that he doesn’t want to. It is a Private company not a public owned company. So his voice and rules are what goes. Best thing to do is just not use it. If you do, don’t buy anything that pops up on the page. Then he loses money.
The chief of touchie feely just made it easier for other criminals to abuse other children. The man is sick. He loves touching young girls.
It is incitement to only allow one view point. If you are the one that determines what viewpoint that is and censor all others and call it incitement, you just might be a dictator’s pawn. As such you need to be shut down or allow all viewpoints. Facebook is not the know all and king of what is right and wrong.
Don’t care if he/she/it wants to serve, but I do care about my tax dollars going to turn he/she into an it.
Beijing Biden and the rest of the dimocrap mob continue to dismantle the constitution starting with the first amendment (especially freedom of speech) and then working their way down the bill of rights to “transform “ our Republic into a third world banana republic.
These people need to sue. It worked for Candace Owens.