Purported video of Rachel Levine in pagan ritual is doctored

A video spreading across X purports to show Rachel Levine, the highest-ranking openly transgender official to serve in the US federal government, performing a pagan prayer ritual in a wooded area. But the clip is manipulated; the original footage depicts Selena Fox, founder of a nature spirituality church in the state of Wisconsin.

“Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. ‘Rachel’ Levine is also a High Pagan Priestess. Get behind me, Satan,” says a November 19, 2024 post on X.

The 18-second clip appears to show Levine, in a purple gown, alternating between opening her palms and touching a rock in front of her while singing: “Equinox power of equinox right, equinox balance of day and night.”

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Similar posts targeting Levine, President Joe Biden’s assistant secretary of health and the first openly transgender official confirmed by the Senate, spread across X after President-elect Donald Trump nominated anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the same agency. The clip also circulated on Facebook.

“Don’t worry about Robert Kennedy Jr. taking over Rachel Levine’s job. She’s going to be just fine,” says one of many posts on X using the video to contrast Kennedy, nominated to serve as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, with Levine.

The posts came amid a surge in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and as House Republicans moved to bar newly-elected Democrat Sarah McBride, who is poised to become the first openly transgender member of Congress, from using women’s restrooms in the US Capitol.

But the video is altered, superimposing Levine’s face on another woman’s body.

“ADM Levine is not the person in that video,” Adam Sarvana, director of communications and external engagement for Levine’s office, told AFP in a November 21 email, using an abbreviation for admiral — her rank in the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.

A reverse image search revealed the original footage shows Selena Fox, the founder, senior minister and high priestess of Circle Sanctuary, a nature spirituality church in Wisconsin (archived here). Fox posted it to Instagram on September 15 (archived here).

Other videos Fox posted days later show her in the same outfit, including the purple gown (archived here and here).

Fox told AFP the version spreading online was altered from her September 15 Instagram post. She said she found out her video had been doctored when someone she knew came across the fake on X, and that she has been trying to report the unauthorized use of her content to get the false posts taken down.

“This was not done by me and was not done with my permission,” she said November 21. “No one contacted me to ask permission.”

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“It’s my original content, and the glasses that got added to my face are not glasses I would wear.”

Photos of Levine and Fox make clear they are different people (archived here).

<span>This undated handout photo obtained on January 19, 2021 courtesy of the Biden-Harris transition team shows Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for health at the United States Department of Health and Human Services </span></p>
<div><span>Handout</span><span>Biden-Harris Transition Team</span></div>
<p>” loading=”lazy” width=”863″ height=”1080″ decoding=”async” data-nimg=”1″ class=”rounded-lg” src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/nby8V7D5kAWwTVmQGSh6Rg–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTEyMDE-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/afp_factcheck_us_713/eb04d7fd49a2a3671a33f669cbe5de86″><button aria-label= — This undated handout photo obtained on January 19, 2021 courtesy of the Biden-Harris transition team shows Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for health at the United States Department of Health and Human Services

HandoutBiden-Harris Transition Team

Handout / Biden-Harris Transition Team

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Siwei Lyu, director of the University at Buffalo’s Media Forensic Lab, analyzed the doctored clip using deepfake detection technology and said it is “a likely face-swap deepfake” (archived here).

“This is not a very well-made deepfake, as we can observe some edges of the spliced regions in the face that exhibit different colors,” he told AFP in a November 21 email.

Fox said she is not transgender but supports equal rights for all people. She said she helped with several November 20 observances for Transgender Day of Remembrance, making the timing of the posts “horrible.”

“I think it’s important for people to be aware of anti-trans hatred and bigotry and to stop it,” she said.

She added that she considers the deepfake an affront to her religion.

“I don’t appreciate this misuse of cyberspace and harming my religious freedom, my freedom of expression and my creative work,” she said.

AFP has debunked other misinformation about the LGBTQ community here.

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