The right-wing media world was thrown into an uproar on Thursday when several social media users pointed out that US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York had removed her pronouns from her biography on X, formerly Twitter.

The overarching sentiment was that Ocasio-Cortez’s decision to remove her pronouns from her biography underscored President-elect Donald Trump’s decisive victory in the 2024 election and was a turning point in “woke” ideology — a derisive term that many conservatives use to describe identity. politics and progressive values.

“JUST IN: AOC removed her pronouns from her bio,” read a post from the popular far-right Libs of TikTok X account.

Riley Gaines, the swimmer and political activist who opposes transgender athletes competing in women’s sports, wrote on X: “They will act like they never embraced (or even celebrated) the madness.

“Don’t forget who the compliant, virtue-signaling sheep were.”

The account EndWokeness, which says it “fights, exposes and mocks Wokeness” and has more than 3 million followers, posted: “2 years ago AOC posted an apology for forgetting to put pronouns in her bio. She just deleted them on X.”

Gaines also commented on that video, writing, “We’re winning and it’s glorious.”

However, other observers noted that Ocasio-Cortez removed her pronouns from her X biography well before Election Day.

She did not have them in her bio as of July 29, according to a screenshot from the lawmaker’s X account captured on the Internet Archive. And The Daily Dot reported that the New York congresswoman had already dropped her pronouns from her biography in May.

Republicans leaned heavily on the culture war ahead of this year’s election, criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party for their support for transgender rights and the LGBTQ+ community.

During his debate against Harris in September, Trump claimed that Harris “wanted to perform transgender surgeries on illegal aliens in jail. This is a radical left liberal who would do this.”

Trump appeared to refer to a 2019 American Civil Liberties Union survey that Harris completed during her first presidential campaign. In the investigation, Harris said she would use her executive authority to ensure that transgender people who relied on the government for medical care, including those in prison, had access to treatments related to gender transition.

In addition to the debate, Trump also delved into the culture war in his campaign ads. One of the most widely circulated ads this election season was one from the Trump campaign that read: “Kamala is for them/them. President Trump is for you.”

Some Democrats have publicly acknowledged the effectiveness of Trump and the Republican Party’s messaging strategy and believe it is one of the reasons why Harris ultimately lost the election.

“Democrats must stop pandering to the far left,” said Representative Tom Suozzi of New York The New York Times on Wednesday. “I don’t want to discriminate against anyone, but I don’t think biological boys should play in girls’ sports.”

Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, who ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2020, echoed that view, telling the Times that Democrats “spend far too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face.” I have two little girls. I don’t want them to be run over on a playing field by a man or former man athlete, but as a Democrat I should be afraid to say that.”

In April 2023, the Biden administration proposed changes to Title IX involving transgender student athletes.

The policy would prevent schools from violating Title IX regulations by imposing restrictions on trans athletes while preventing them from “categorically” banning such students from competing on teams consistent with their gender “just because of who they are ‘.

There was a caveat to the proposed change, which would apply to public K-12 schools, in addition to colleges, universities and other institutions that receive federal funding.

“The proposed rule also recognizes that in some cases, especially in competitive high school and college athletics environments, some schools may adopt policies that restrict the participation of transgender students,” the Department of Education policy statement said.

Ocasio-Cortez was highly critical, saying the policy was the opposite of what was outlined in that January 2021 executive order.

“Absolutely no reason for the Biden administrator to do this,” she said. “It’s indefensible and embarrassing. The administrator can still reverse this, and they should. It’s a shame.”

Update 11/14/24, 10:48 PM: This article has been updated with additional information and further context.

Update 11/15/24, 3:21 am: This article has been updated with additional information and further context.