HARRISBURG, Pa.: A Pennsylvania legislator shared on Facebook an image mocking the appearance of the states recently departed health secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine, a transgender woman who has been nominated to serve in the Biden administration, and then offered a general apology Saturday.
State Rep. Jeff Pyle, a Republican from Armstrong and Indiana counties in western Pennsylvania, said on Facebook that he had no idea” the post mocking Levine would be … received as poorly as it was” but that tens of thousands of heated emails assured me it was.”
I owe an apology and I offer it humbly,” Pyle said, not specifically apologizing to Levine or other transgender people, but later repeating an apology to all affected.”
Levine has not commented. The state health department did not immediately respond to an email seeking a reaction to Pyle’s initial post or his apology.
Comments on his Facebook page had called for him to resign.
President Joe Biden tapped Levine a day before his…