Bloomsburg Fair denounced for dunk tank mocking Pa. Health Secretary Rachel Levine

A fair in Eastern Pennsylvania was criticized this week for perceived mocking of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine in a dunk tank.

At the Columbia-Montour County Fireman’s Relief Carnival, hosted by the Bloomsburg Fair, a man wearing a dress and wig sat on the dunk pedestal, claiming to resemble Levine.

The Bloomsburg Fair made a post to its Facebook page Monday with a photo of the man and the tank, along with the caption: “Dr. Levine? Thank you. You were a hit and raised a lot of money for the local fire companies. Wonder why so many were trying to dunk you,” followed by a smiley-face emoji. “Thanks everyone that came out to support our local fire companies.”

The post immediately received backlash from activist groups and social media users, and was removed.

Levine, a transgender woman, has gained notoriety during the coronavirus pandemic as she and Wolf provide regular updates on covid-19 in Pennsylvania. With her notoriety, though, has come much backlash and transphobia.

Last month, a Scott Township commissioner stepped down from his position after comments he made during a public meeting.

“I tell you, I am tired of listening to a guy dressed up like a woman,” the former commissioner, Paul Abel, said in reference to Levine.

A Trafford councilman has refused to resign after being criticized for a Facebook post regarding Levine.

Gov. Tom Wolf in June posted a message wishing a happy Father’s Day to all Pennsylvania dads. Zack Cole, a Republican Trafford Borough councilman, replied: “Happy Father’s Day” to Levine, using her birth name.

Several advocacy groups and public servants condemned the incident at the Bloomsburg Fair. The Pennsylvania Equality Project expressed support for Levine and criticized the fair for claiming to be “family friendly.”

“No child should have to suffer through seeing hate at a county fair and see that fair association as the perpetrator of transphobic actions,” the organization wrote in a Facebook post.

“Dr. Levine is an honorable public servant whose tireless work to keep PA safe and healthy has saved countless lives,” U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, tweeted in a short thread Monday. “She is owed an apology.”

Hate and bigotry have no place in our society. The members of the Pennsylvania transgender community are our neighbors and friends. Treat them that way.

— Senator Bob Casey (@SenBobCasey) July 21, 2020

Apart from the carnival over the weekend, the Bloomsburg Fair is an annual agricultural event featuring local food vendors and fundraisers. The Fair, which originated in 1855, lists several prominent sponsors on its website, including the Pennsylvania Lottery and UPMC.

“UPMC was a past sponsor of the Bloomsburg Fair in 2019 (a one-week event which is scheduled to be held in October this year) but had withdrawn the sponsorship proposal last week over covid-19 concerns,” said Rick Pietzak, a UPMC spokesman. “UPMC was not, nor have ever been, a sponsor of the event held over the weekend.”

Pietzak did not respond to questions about whether or not the incident would affect decisions to sponsor the Bloomsburg Fair in the future.

The fair’s offices were closed and the president of the fair’s board of directors did not respond to a request for comment. But the fair reportedly issued a statement to WOLF-TV, a Fox-affiliate in Wilkes-Barre.

Misspelling her last name throughout as “Lavine,” the fair said they were responding to the incident which occurred at the Columbia Montour County Fireman’s Relief Carnival. The intention of the dunk tank, according to the statement, was “to utilize the likeness of a public figure in an effort to raise monies for local fire companies.

“At no time was it the intention of the Bloomsburg Fair, anyone affiliated with the Fair, including any sponsors of the Carnival, to knowingly utilize the likeness of Dr. [Levine] in a dunk tank as any form of commentary on Dr. [Levine’s] transgender identity,” the statement said.

Fair officials later held a news conference Tuesday in which they apologized for the incident and said the man did not intentionally dress up as Levine. The intention, said Randy Karschner, Bloomsburg Fair president, was to draw excitement for the game and raise more money. He said it was “no different from a Dollar General Halloween costume.”

“Somebody walked by and said that it resembled the doctor, and it just went from there,” Karschner said.

When asked for comment, the Pennsylvania Department of Health directed the Tribune-Review to a press release issued by Gov. Tom Wolf in June, in which the state’s Commission on LGBTQ Affairs defended Levine against transphobia.

“This leadership has been met with some of the most vile and toxic transphobia our Commission has seen in our commonwealth in recent years,” the press release said. “Week after week, members of the LGBTQ community and thousands of Pennsylvanians have tuned in to be informed by our Health Secretary only to be assaulted by streams of comments and slurs aimed directly at Dr. Levine and indirectly at all transgender Pennsylvanians. Whether a member of the media is misgendering her or social media comments are lobbed her way, we admire how Dr. Levine has shown poise and the highest degree of professionalism.”

Maggi Mumma, deputy press secretary at the Department of Health, added that Levine remains “laser-focused” on the pandemic and does not have further comment at this time.