A death threat was made against state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, on Tuesday morning. The Standard received the threat via email and reported it to the police and Wiener.
San Francisco police responded to Wiener’s home at roughly 6 a.m. on Tuesday morning.
Sent by a person using the name Zamina Tataro, the email said that they placed bombs at Wiener’s San Francisco home and threatened to shoot up his Sacramento office “in 20 minutes, I am willing to die.”
The subject line read “Scott Wiener will die today,” and the author called him a pedophile and accused him of grooming children.
SFPD searched Wiener's home but did not locate any explosive devices.
In November, a person using the name Zamina Tataro also sent an email claiming to have placed bombs at Oakville Trafalgar High School in Ontario over the attire of a transgender teacher. Those threats were linked to bomb threats against Boston Children’s Hospital's transgender healthcare unit, according to the Brantford Expositor.
In June, police searched Wiener's home after members of his staff received an emailed death threat indicating that bombs had been placed at his home and office.
In September, a San Ramon man was found guilty of threatening to kill Wiener after he introduced a bill that would have allowed teenagers to get a Covid vaccine without their guardians' permission. The man, Erik Triana, had stockpiled weapons at his home according to prosecutors.
The email sent to The Standard Tuesday morning echoed other violent and homophobic threats targeting Wiener, who said in a phone call that he’s been subject to death threats since taking office.
Wiener said those threats have increased in volume recently following online Twitter exchanges with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
In November, Greene called Wiener a “communist groomer” after he tweeted, “The word 'groomer' is categorically an anti-LGBTQ hate word.” Wiener wrote the tweet after the shooting at queer nightclub Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado, that killed five and injured 18.
The word “groomer” is categorically an anti-LGBTQ hate word. It’s super homophobic/transphobic. It plays into the slander that LGBTQ people are pedophiles. It’s no different than calling someone a fagg*t.
— Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) November 20, 2022
If you call someone groomer, you’re inciting violence against LGBTQ people
Greene also said voters should pass her Protect Children’s Innocence Act, which would make it a federal felony, punishable by up to 25 years in prison, for doctors to prescribe puberty blockers or testosterones therapy to minors.
Wiener is the sponsor of Senate Bill 107, which provides refuge for trans kids and their families should they flee a state that criminalizes the parents of trans kids for allowing them to receive gender-affirming care. The bill will take effect on Jan. 1, 2023.
Last week, Kirk tweeted that Wiener was sponsoring legislation that would “free pedophiles” and that Wiener supported “mutilating children.”
"A lot of times people dismiss what is said online as just rhetoric, but the reality is there is an entire right-wing conspiracy theory machine that puts out conspiracies about progressives and those conspiracy theories get dramatically amplified and eventually somebody does something about it," said Wiener.
Wiener described other recent death threats, including a threat "to come bash in my head—and now this.
"It’s really terrifying, and that’s why what is said online and on social media is not just talk," said Wiener.