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Gay Lawmaker Receives Chilling Bomb Threat Accusing Him Of 'Grooming' Kids

Story by Josephine Harvey • HuffPost

The California home of state Sen. Scott Wiener (D) was searched by police on Tuesday after he was targeted with a bomb threat parroting false, right-wing “groomer” rhetoric over his fight for LGBTQ rights.

The threat was emailed to the San Francisco Standard and reported to the San Francisco Police Department, which began searching Wiener’s home at around 6 a.m. Police found no explosives at the property.

The subject line read: “Scott Wiener will die today,” according to the Standard. The author, who used the name Zamina Tataro, called Wiener a pedophile and accused him of grooming children.

The name Zamina Tataro was also used in a different bomb threat last month against a school in Ontario over the attire of a trans teacher.

Wiener, who is gay, said it was one of many death threats he had received this year.

“This latest wave of death threats against me relates to my work to end discrimination against LGBTQ people in the criminal justice system and my work to ensure the safety of transgender children and their families,” Wiener tweeted, noting that extremist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and right-wing activist Charlie Kirk had recently tweeted homophobic lies about him.

Greene recently called Wiener a “communist groomer” after he tweeted that her type of rhetoric was inciting violence against LGBTQ people. The exchange took place in the wake of a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Last week, Kirk tweeted that Wiener supported “mutilating children” because he sponsored a bill that provides refuge for trans kids and their families, should they flee a state that criminalizes parents for allowing their child to access gender-affirming care.

Wiener pointed to his case as an example of the real-world impact of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric online and in the media.

“It leads to harassment, stalking, threats and violence against our community. People are dying as a result. Responsible political leaders on the right must call it out and stop tolerating it,” Wiener wrote.

The term groomer, which refers to adults who develop relationships with children in order to abuse them, has been co-opted by conservatives in recent years to attack LGBTQ people and their allies, trading on an old trope. Proponents of the narrative direct rage at people who advocate for gender-affirming care or even those who simply seek to educate children about the existence of the LGBTQ community.

This rhetoric, promoted by Greene, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson and other far-right personalities, has fueled a spike in harassment, threats and violence against the LGBTQ community, and coincides with Republicans’ ongoing push to pass hostile legislation targeting LGBTQ people.


Senator Scott Wiener comes in to talk to the editorial board at the Chronicle on Friday, Jan. 10, 2020, in San Francisco, Calif. 

(Photo By Liz Hafalia/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)