Facebook Censors Gay Journalist Kevin Sessums for Calling Trump Supporters ‘Fascistic’
Facebook temporarily banned gay, HIV-positive author/journalist Kevin Sessums for a post calling Trump supporters a “nasty fascistic lot.”
The Silencing
Sessums said the critical comments were a response to ABC political analyst Matthew Dowd’s claim that “lovely ‘Christian’ Trump fans” had called him “a Jew, faggot, retard.”
In the last few hours i have been called by lovely "christian" Trump fans: a jew, faggot, retard. To set record straight: divorced Catholic
— Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) December 29, 2016
After that, Sessums posted to his Facebook page that Trump supporters are “a fascistic lot” and said, “If you voted for Trump and continue to support him and you think you are better than these bigoted virulent trolls, you’re not.”
Sessums was notified soon afterward that the post violated Facebook’s “community standards” and that he would be barred from posting for 24 hours. If he continued such speech he faced a permanent ban, Facebook warned him, according to Sessums.
“It’s chilling. It’s arbitrary censorship,” said Sessums, a contributing editor for Vanity Fair who has penned two bestselling memoirs. “I was like, ‘Wait a minute, do I have to be careful about what I say about Trump now?’”
Sessums Speaks Out
Sessums took to his Instagram account to post an image of himself raising a defiant fist and holding a sign with the words “Censored and banned by Facebook”:
