In the latest attack on Dr. Rachel Levine’s gender identity, a senior legal adviser to President Trump’s reelection campaign intentionally misgendered Pennsylvania’s secretary of health.

“This guy is making decisions about your health,” Jenna Ellis, an attorney for Trump 2020, tweeted Monday. Ellis shared a May 13 PennLive news article about a different incident in which Levine was misgendered — when KDKA-AM radio personality Marty Griffin repeatedly called Levine “sir” on a press call.

This guy is making decisions about your health.https://t.co/gaqGBbXbOC

— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) August 10, 2020

Levine has been the subject of criticism for policies restricting business and other activities during the coronavirus pandemic. As one of the few openly transgender public officials in the country, she has also been the target of persistent transphobia.

“Dr. Levine is laser-focused on assisting Pennsylvanians in the midst of a national pandemic,” Department of Health Press Secretary Nate Wardle said in response to the latest incident. “She does not have time for this nonsense.”

The Human Rights Campaign, a LGBTQ civil rights organization, came to Levine’s defense.

“Jenna Ellis is a bigot and Dr. Levine is a patriot — plain and simple. Dr. Levine illustrates character and patriotism while Ellis cannot even define those terms,” said the statement from HRC President Alphonso David. “Using a person’s pronouns is a basic level of respect. Despite claims of allyship, Donald Trump, Mike Pence and their staff have gone out of their way to dehumanize and attack transgender and non-binary people simply for existing.”

Ellis, the former director of the Dobson Policy Center of the James Dobson Family Institute, joined the Trump campaign in November. A Fox News contributor, she has taught at law at Colorado Christian University and is the author of “The Legal Basis for a Moral Constitution: A Guide for Christians to Understand America’s Constitutional Crisis.”

In recent months, several local officials in Pennsylvania, including a Scott Township commissioner and a Trafford councilman, have made disparaging or sarcastic remarks about Levine. In late July, the Columbia-Montour County Fireman’s Relief Carnival, hosted by the Bloomsburg Fair, came under fire after a man wearing a dress and wig sat on a dunk tank pedestal, claiming to resemble Levine.

Levine responded to previous attacks on her gender identity in a press conference in late July.

“I want to emphasize that while these individuals may think they are only expressing their displeasure with me, they are in fact hurting the thousands of LGBTQ Pennsylvanians who suffer directly from these current demonstrations of harassment,” Levine said then. “Your actions perpetuate a spirit of intolerance and discrimination against LGBTQ individuals and specifically transgender individuals.”

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