S.F. Supes delay resolution to condemn homophobic, antisemitic QAnon attacks on Sen. Scott Wiener
By Trisha Thadani Updated 7:39 pm CDT, Friday, September 25, 2020
Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener calls on lawmakers to reject a measure to tighten the rules for children under 13 using social media, during the Senate session at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif.,
Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019. There is a resolution to condemn the deluge of death threats, antisemitic and homophobic attacks that Sen. Scott Wiener has been receiving from online conspiracy theorists.
Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener calls on lawmakers to reject a measure to tighten the rules for children under 13 using social media, during the Senate session at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Thursday,
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It seemed like a straightforward proposal for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors: Condemn the deluge of death threats, antisemitic and homophobic attacks that Sen. Scott Wiener has been receiving from online conspiracy theorists.
The proposal came in the form of a resolution, written by Supervisor Catherine Stefani, with eight co-sponsors. The resolution is nonbinding and simply a statement of values from the board. It initially passed unanimously.
But then her colleagues rescinded the vote, and said it should be broadened to not just focus on Wiener — but to also condemn racist and misogynistic attacks, including those that they have received themselves.
“I actually would like my name added to this item,” said Supervisor Aaron Peskin. “If we’re doing it for one elected official, we should do it for other elected officials who have been the subject of hate.”
Critics, including Wiener and Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, called the move “bizzare,” “offensive” and politically motivated.
As a gay politician, Wiener, D-San Francisco, said he is used to homophobic remarks and understands that many politicians receive similar ire from the public. But, he said, the verbal attacks that have been directed against him, his family and staff over the past few weeks have been particularly heinous.
The onslaught of calls, emails and messages on social media were spurred by Wiener’s bill, SB145, which equalizes the way straight and gay sex are treated in sex-offender cases. Previously, a judge had discretion on whether to place a man who has vaginal intercourse with an underage teenage girl on the sex offender registry based on the facts of the case.
But if anal or oral sex — or vaginal penetration with anything other than a penis is involved — the adult automatically had to register as a sex offender. Now, the judge will be given discretion in all cases.
The measure, which barely passed in the Legislature this month, was seized on by right-wing conspiracy theorists — known as QAnon — who began falsely accusing him of legalizing pedophilia. Conservative talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Donald Trump Jr. have also made false statements about the legislation online, which Wiener said fueled the hateful messages.
“We stopped counting at 1,000” death threats, he said. “Many of them have been homophobic and antisemitic and very graphic, talking about decapitating me and sending my head to my mother.”
It came to the point, he said, where he had his interns stop answering the calls.
“I didn’t want high school and college kids to pick up the phone and have them hear that,” he said.
State police are investigating the threats.
On Tuesday, several members of the board questioned whether it was appropriate to sponsor a resolution regarding Wiener, when he is in the midst of a re-election campaign.
His opponent, Jackie Fielder, is supported by Supervisors Dean Preston, Hillary Ronen, Gordon Mar and Matt Haney.
The impasse on the resolution came after Stefani’s colleagues sharply criticized her earlier in the meeting for not supporting a nearly $14 billion spending plan for the next two fiscal years. She was the lone dissenting vote.
Peskin was among the most visibly frustrated supervisors in the meeting over Stefani’s no vote. When asked if he would have brought up his concerns about the resolution had the budget conversation not happened earlier in the meeting, he said, “quite likely, yes.”
Peskin was among seven original co-sponsors on the resolution.
Mandelman said it was a clear retaliation on Stefani’s vote on the budget and said it was a “particularly unseemly way to take her to task.”
“I can only attribute it to ignorance rather than malice,” Mandelman said. “They must not know the extent of the campaign against Sen. Wiener. The multitude of death threats, the thousands of messages, all coming out of his” legislation.
Stefani declined to comment on whether she thought the criticism on her resolution was politically motivated but said she was “disappointed” in her colleagues.
“I just can’t imagine why the Board of Supervisors wouldn’t take every opportunity to denounce violence, threats and hate speech,” she said.
A resolution denouncing the attacks would not have changed anything, Wiener said. But it would have been a “nice and gracious thing to do.”
“Instead, it got politicized in a really bizarre and offensive way,” he said.
