By Audrey Sawyer and Ramneet Singh
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – California Stata Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) continued his war of words over the “demonizing” and harmful results of the “homophobic and libelous attacks” by ultra-right conspiracy theorist Charlie Kirk and Congressional Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Wiener has recently proposed positive LGBTQ legislation in California.
As reported by The Hill, the law wants to restrict the showing of information concerning transgender youth or their parents, responding to any potential legal action according to other states’ laws.
Kirk’s tweet, like the one made by Marjorie Taylor Greene, equated those who identify as LGBTQ to pedophilia.
Kirk stated: “Thousands of pedophiles in California are going free after just a few months in jail, thanks to the state’s radically reduced penalties for child molestation.”
In response to Kirk’s tweet, Wiener emphasizes harm in language used by both Greene and Kirk.
He argues the threat leaders who identify as LGBTQ may face. He describes the two as “MAGA talking heads” who “are focused on slandering and demonizing gay and trans people, and using us as scapegoats.”
He chastises the insinuation that individuals who are part of the LGBTQ community should be seen as threats to children.
Greene’s tweet read “pass my Protect Children’s Innocence Act to stop communist groomers like this from using state government power to take children away from their parents to allow a for-profit medical industry to chop off these confused children’s genitals before they are even old enough to vote.”
Wiener’s statement noted MTG’s comments are based on longstanding misperceptions, and are “leading the movement to slander gay men and trans people as ‘pedophiles’ and ‘groomers.’”
The statement highlights the effects of perpetuating those falsehoods, said Wiener, adding he’s had, as a personal example, a recent death threat.
Another example the statement provided was Nov. 20’s Colorado Springs Club Q shooting, at which NPR reports that Anderson Lee Aldritch killed five people and injured 17 others at a known LGBTQ night club.
The final part of Wiener’s statement expresses a need for accountability and describes those who proliferate those lies as “a stain on our country.”
