PHOENIX (LifeSiteNews) — Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs’ press secretary has resigned after tweeting what appeared to be a threat of violence against so-called “transphobes” shortly after a transgender-identifying shooter killed six at a Christian school in Nashville.
A day after the gender-confused woman Audrey Hale murdered three children and three adults at the Covenant School, Josselyn Berry tweeted a picture of a woman with two guns pointed and ready, with the caption, “Us when we see transphobes.”
After a public uproar over the post, Berry made her Twitter account private, hiding her Tweets from all but approved followers.
The Office of Governor Hobbs announced Wednesday that Hobbs has “received and accepted the resignation” of Press Secretary Berry.
“The Governor does not condone violence in any form. This administration holds mutual respect at the forefront of how we engage with one another,” continued the statement. “The post by the Press Secretary is not reflective of the values of the administration.”
Conservative commentators such as Matt Walsh had been calling for Berry to be fired after news of her tweet made the rounds on social media.
Some social media users applauded the move, and others raised concerns about how Berry was vetted for hire by Hobbs.
“But how did someone that held those values get such an important job in the first place?” tweeted Laura Burch in response to the announcement.
“Very poor judgment on your part to hire this person. It throws doubt on your ability to make smart personnel decisions based on merit and quality instead of political alignment and ideology,” commented one Twitter user.
Berry has a history of anti-police rhetoric, and during her last job for the Arizona Senate Democrats in 2020, wrote an official statement that quoted cop-killer terrorist Assata Shakur, the Daily Caller noted.
Remarkably, Berry’s account has not been suspended by Twitter for the apparent threat of violence. Twitter’s policy against violent threats states: “You may not threaten to inflict physical harm on others, which includes (but is not limited to) threatening to kill, torture, sexually assault, or otherwise hurt someone.”
Meanwhile, Twitter has suspended the accounts of Federalist CEO Sean Davis, the Post Millennial and its senior editor Andy Ngo, as well as those of Republican congresswoman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Michael Knowles, Brandon Straka, and others after they reported on the planned “Trans Day of Vengeance,” to be held on April 1 in Washington, DC.
Twitter cracked down on the sharing of the advertisement for the event itself, which a staffer said ran afoul of company policy regarding the incitement of violence, but in the process punished even those who criticized the event.
Twitter staffer Ella Irwin responded to complaints on Tuesday, explaining that the company “had to automatically sweep our platform and remove >5000 tweets /retweets of” the poster put out by the Trans Radical Activist Network advertising the event.
“We do not support tweets that incite violence irrespective of who posts them,” Irwin said. “‘Vengeance’ does not imply peaceful protest. Organizing or support for peaceful protests is ok.”’
The “Trans Day of Vengeance” is reportedly meant to resist laws like the one recently signed in Tennessee banning mutilating transgender interventions for minors. The group organizing the event, the Trans Radical Activist Network, also reportedly urged protests in Nashville and even promoted firearms training for protection against alleged “anti-transgender” violence.
It is unclear whether shooter Audrey Hale was affiliated in any way with the group.