Sara Ramirez lashes out at Twitter for blocking #20BiTeen
Sara Ramirez has hit out at Twitter for its treatment of the #20BiTeen hashtag (Theo Wargo/Getty)
Sara Ramirez has hit out at Twitter for apparently blocking users who search #20BiTeen from seeing results in the photos, videos, news or broadcasts categories.
The Madam Secretary actress, who came out as bisexual in 2016, tweeted on Wednesday (February 6): “CMON @Twitter , GET IT TOGETHER. It’s #20BiTeen and we’re gonna keep at it until you fix this issue.
“Cmon #Bi+ #Bisexual #Pansexual #Fluid #NonMonosexual #Queer folk!! If we can embrace gender fluidity in our fam, then you best believe we can embrace our fluid sexual orientations,” she added.
Sara Ramirez makes her feelings clear (SaraRamirez/twitter)
Ramirez, who made her name playing bisexual surgeon Callie Torres on Grey’s Anatomy, was responding to the revelation first reported on Tuesday (February 5) by bisexual publication Larker Anthology.
The bisexual publication tweeted: “#bisexuality is not pornography, @Twitter. The #20BiTeen tag has been blocked from displaying photos and videos for days now. Nothing from @TwitterSupport.”
Replying directly to this post, Ramirez simply wrote the hashtag “#20BiTeen” a total of 28 times.
Twitter responds to #20BiTeen controversy
A Twitter spokesperson told PinkNews: “A recent back-end issue involving #20BiTeen meant the hashtag was not auto-populating with videos and photos.
“As soon as we were alerted to this, our team investigated and fixed the issue. Newer Tweets are now displaying as normal.”
#20BiTeen still garners no results in several search categories (Twitter)
Despite Twitter’s assurance, tweets were still not showing up in the videos, photos, news and broadcasts categories at the time of publication, more than two days since Larker Anthology first flagged the issue.
Twitter has limited bisexual content before. In 2017, Twitter users were unable to view certain results categories for the #bisexual hashtag, such as photos.
Twitter eventually apologised and pledged to fix the issue, but many users remained angry about the perceived slight.
Other Twitter users join Sara Ramirez in voicing their fury over alleged #20BiTeen block
Ramirez was not the only one to complain about users’ limited access to #20BiTeen search results.
Robyn Ochs, editor of American publication Bi Women Quarterly, referred to 2017’s block when she wrote: “Oh, come on, Twitter! Again? Really?!!!
“Get your act together and stop censoring bisexual and other LGBTQ+ content like #20BiTeen!”
Another said: “What’s so hard to understand about bisexuality? We’re not confused. The only people who are confused are the people who don’t understand it. #20BiTeen #BiVisibility #BiPride #LGBTQ #DoRightBiUs ✌ .”
One person asked Twitter: “What’s going on? You need to get over your continued biphobia. @BiNetUSA would be happy to provide you with training on this. #20BiTeen is a good thing. Get your minds out of the gutter.”
“Am I disappointed? Sure. Am I surprised? Absolutely not. @Twitter @jack #20BiTeen”
— @DamnItRJ
A different angered user said: “#20BiTeen is a great thing, not something to blacklisted @Twitter @jack.”
“I know there are plenty of videos and photos in the #20BiTeen, why are they being hidden @jack?” asked one disappointed tweeter, who added: “It’s not pornography to be Bi, its [sic] censorship to suppress our voices so fix it right now. Especially since I know if you search N*zi tags you’ll find photos and videos no problem.”
A different tweeter wrote: “Am I disappointed? Sure. Am I surprised? Absolutely not. @Twitter @jack #20BiTeen.”
