Gay, Jewish California lawmaker targeted with bomb threat for second time
Police in San Francisco responded to State Sen. Scott Wiener's home early Tuesday morning to search for potential bombs amid a new wave of threats against the senator, CBS News Bay Area reports.
A police spokesperson told the station they were called around 6 a.m. about reports of a bomb threat against an elected official. Officers arrived on scene, searched the home and didn't find any devices. No injuries were reported.
In a statement, Wiener said he was the target of a bomb threat that listed his home address and threatened to shoot up his office at the State Capitol in Sacramento. According to the senator, the threatening email said "we will f-----g kill you" and called him a "pedophile" and "groomer."
The threats against Wiener come amid recent online exchanges with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia), whose Twitter account was reinstated following Elon Musk's takeover, and with conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Greene used the term "groomer," which refers to adults who build relationships with children in an effort to abuse them. The word has been used by some on the far right against LGBTQ people, trading on an old stereotype that gay people are predators.
"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 said Tuesday. "I will always fight for the LGBTQ community — and for the community as a whole — and will never let these threats stop that work."
Wiener has been targeted by threats before. Police were called to his home to investigate a bomb threat in June, in the midst of Pride Month celebrations.
In September, a jury convicted a Contra Costa County man for making a death threat against the senator over a proposal involving childhood COVID-19 vaccinations.
The senator recently told CBS News Bay Area he's no stranger to unsettling messages. He also said antisemitism and homophobia against him have increased over the last several years.
"As a gay Jewish man, I represent everything, almost everything that they hate, and so much of what they hate about people who don't fit their definition of how you're supposed to be," he said in a report that aired November 21.