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How is this for a 2020 New Year’s Resolution — websites should stop censoring conservative speech!

No, it isn’t an individual resolution for any of us, but it’s a resolution recommendation. And entering the 2020 election season, it should be more of a requirement rather than a recommendation.

Consider the following few stories from last year that you may not know about.

Sioux City Pastor Cary Gordon was asked to contribute to Medium, a website that “taps into the brains of the world’s most insightful writers, thinkers and storytellers to bring you the smartest takes on topics that matter.”

Pastor Gordon was contacted originally on Feb. 2, 2016, by Tyler Campbell, who asked if Pastor Gordon would offer a short analysis of his Caucus experience and what he expects in the race moving forward. Pastor Gordon agreed.

Pastor Gordon used Medium for years to publish his writings. However, one of his articles got him eliminated from the platform. The article can be read here. It focused on egalitarianism and the church. It also shared the “controversial” view that men should not be allowed to play women’s sports.

Several people complained after receiving a blank page with an “Error 404” colde after trying to read Pastor Gordon’s newest article.

“I initially thought it must be a mobile device problem others were having,” Pastor Gordon said. “So, I used my own phone to see if that was the problem. Nope, it worked fine on my phone too. From my perspective, everything looked great.”

Pastor Gordon contacted tech support. He wrote he was being bombarded with frustrated followers who couldn’t find his newest article. He paid $50 in an attempt to fix the issue.

Medium support responded they took down his post due to their rules on July 25. That message sent on July 25 had gone into Pastor Gordon’s spam folder. It said the article violated Medium’s policies.

“We do not allow calls for intolerance, exclusion or segregation based on protected characteristics. As a result, it has been suspended from the platform.”

Pastor Gordon said it’s ironic that his article was either intolerant, excluding or segregating since it was Medium who was acting intolerant, excluding and segregating toward his beliefs.

“Why is it OK for them to do that against things they don’t like, but it is not OK for me to do that against things my religion forbids,” he asked.

Pastor Gordon shared his concern with Medium support, explaining they were discriminating against him based on his deeply held religious convictions. He demanded a refund of the $50 he paid in an attempt to get the website to work.

“You are in the truth-suppression business, not the free-speech business,” Pastor Gordon said.

Pastor Gordon said it is misleading that Medium gives no notification inside accounts that the article is removed from public view. Medium continues to portray things as if the account is perfectly in place and nothing is wrong. Medium even solicits money after pulling down the article.

Author: Jacob Hall

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