Elon Musk Sparks Outrage After Declaring ‘Cisgender’ A Slur On Twitter

Self-described “free-speech absolutist” Elon Musk has declared that the terms “cis” and “cisgender” will now be “considered slurs” on Twitter.

The billionaire, who bought the social media platform and disbanded its Trust and Safety Council in December, was replying to a user on Tuesday who claimed to have been targeted by trans rights activists after tweeting to say he rejected the word “cis.”

Cisgender, or simply cis, is an adjective that describes a person whose gender identity aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth. Transgender, or simply trans, is an adjective used to describe someone whose gender identity differs from the sex assigned at birth.

Musk later commented on a Twitter poll asking if “cis” is a slur in which 78 percent of respondents voted “yes.” “People overwhelmingly reject this obvious slur that bigots are trying to impose,” Musk tweeted.

Repeated, targeted harassment against any account will cause the harassing accounts to receive, at minimum, temporary suspensions.

The words “cis” or “cisgender” are considered slurs on this platform.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 21, 2023

Musk indicated that the platform may only consider the words offensive when used to describe others. He told someone asking if it’s all right to self-identify as cis that they can call themselves “anything you want.”

The declaration has sparked outrage online from the LGBTQIA+ community.

NYT bestselling author Seth Abramson doubted that Mr Musk knows what the word means.

“I’m 102.3% sure Elon has no idea what “cis” or “cisgender” mean, either connotatively or denotatively or etymologically,” he wrote. “Threatening to suspend users on your ‘free speech’ platform because they uttered a word you don’t understand but fear emasculates you is quite the fascist flex.”

I’m cisgender, don’t mind being called it because *it’s not a pejorative*, and if I meet someone who uses the term in a way that suggests they think me being cisgender makes me “less than” I erase them from my life and go on my merry way without whining to the world’s richest man

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) June 21, 2023

I am cisgender. That is not a slur, it is a truth.

The only people offended by the word “cis” are people who prefer their identity to be the only acceptable form of being.

That’s not courage, it’s bigotry. And it’s the kind of story that leads to genocide. https://t.co/A55GnkoH2F

— Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis (@RevJacquiLewis) June 21, 2023

The dictionary defines "cisgender" as "relating to a person whose gender identity corresponds with the sex registered for them at birth; not transgender."

But noted "free speech" advocate Elon Musk wants to ban this word on Twitter because it hurts his little feelings. pic.twitter.com/DFyOX8BHTq

— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) June 21, 2023

today a right wing ammo manufacturer threatened a doctor that Joe Rogan and Elon Musk went after on Twitter over the weekend

that account wasn’t suspended but Elon Musk proclaims that using “cis” or “cisgender” will get you suspended on his “free speech” platform pic.twitter.com/GLsMDddXZ9

— Matt Binder (@MattBinder) June 21, 2023

Sweetie, I hate to break it to you, but all words are made up. That's how words come into being. Someone has to make them to describe something. That's how language works. "Cisgender" has been recognized as a word for many years now. Please catch up. https://t.co/XtGhghOOic

— Charlotte Clymer 🇺🇦 (@cmclymer) June 21, 2023