A Pennsylvania lawmaker is apologizing (sort of) but not resigning over a transphobic meme that compared Biden administration nominee Dr. Rachel Levine, a transgender woman, to Benjamin Franklin. State Rep. Jeff Pyle officially resides in western Pennsylvania but may actually live under a rock if it’s to be believed that he “had no idea” people would be offended by the image he shared on Facebook. NBC Philadelphia notes that after Pyle was roundly criticized, he conceded, “I owe an apology and I offer it humbly,” but did not actually offer that apology to Levine. She headed the state Health Department in Pennsylvania but has been nominated by President Joe Biden as an assistant secretary of health. Pyle, 56, says the controversy has taught him something most people learn as children—to “not poke fun at people different than me and to hold my tongue.”
