{"id":378548,"date":"2026-06-28T19:32:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T19:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/378548\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T19:32:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T19:32:53","slug":"gay-lawmaker-chased-from-san-francisco-trans-march-over-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/378548\/","title":{"rendered":"Gay lawmaker chased from San Francisco Trans March over Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"

California<\/a> state Sen. Scott Wiener says he was harassed, threatened, and physically intimidated at San Francisco\u2019s<\/a> Trans March on Friday, forcing the out gay Jewish<\/a> lawmaker to leave one of the country\u2019s most important transgender<\/a> Pride<\/a> gatherings in a city that has long imagined itself as a refuge.<\/p>\n

Wiener, a Democrat<\/a> who represents San Francisco and is running for the congressional seat long held by retiring House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi<\/a>, said in a statement posted to Instagram<\/a> that two incidents this week showed how easily political<\/a> anger can curdle into something more menacing.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast night I attended the trans march, as I\u2019ve done each year for the past 22 years since the first march in 2004,\u201d Wiener wrote. \u201cI attend each year in solidarity with our trans siblings, who are facing existential threats from right wing extremists, including the President.\u201d<\/p>\n

The San Francisco Trans March, first held in 2004, is one of the largest annual gatherings for transgender and gender-nonconforming people in the world. It is part protest, part mourning ritual, part family reunion, and remains a place where people who are targeted by law, policy, and street violence gather in public and insist on being seen.<\/p>\n

This year, Wiener said, he could not safely remain.<\/p>\n

He said he was walking through Dolores Park to attend a trans-led Pride Shabbat service connected to the march when a group began screaming at him, ran toward him, surrounded him, and harassed him \u201cboth verbally and physically, including physical contact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related: California state Sen. Scott Wiener served a sexy leather daddy look at Folsom Street Fair<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThey made statements about my \u2018Israeli handlers,\u2019 among many other inaccurate, extreme, and vile statements,\u201d Wiener said. \u201cThey were so physically and verbally aggressive that it was impossible for me to safely remain in the park.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result, Wiener said, he left and did not participate in the march for the first time since its founding.<\/p>\n

San Francisco\u2019s Pride season unfolded this year against a national backdrop of escalating attacks on transgender people, including federal and state efforts targeting gender-affirming care<\/a>, public accommodations, identity documents, and school sports.<\/p>\n

But the incident involving Wiener also revealed a fracture inside progressive and LGBTQ+ spaces. Anger over Israel\u2019s war in Gaza has, in some cases, blurred into the targeting of Jewish public figures as Jews.<\/p>\n

A video that circulated online Friday showed demonstrators confronting Wiener as he tried to leave, criticizing his positions on Gaza and housing while also acknowledging his record on LGBTQ+ legislation. In one person can be heard telling Wiener, \u201cI think your legislation on trans issues … is fantastic,\u201d before the exchange escalates.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou do not belong here, Scott, anymore,\u201d the person said. \u201cIt sucks because you\u2019ve been wonderful. You\u2019ve been wonderful for trans people, and you\u2019ve been terrible … on Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related: Scott Wiener, running to succeed Nancy Pelosi in Congress, endorsed by HRC, Victory Fund, and more <\/a><\/p>\n

The person continued shouting as Wiener walked away. \u201cScott, do you have anything to say? Do you have anything to say about Gaza?\u201d the person said. \u201cHow could someone like you do this to San Francisco?\u201d<\/p>\n

The same person later said, \u201cI want to support someone who\u2019s so positive on trans rights, but you\u2019re a piece of shit.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his statement, Wiener drew a line between protest and intimidation. \u201cI have no objection whatsoever to anyone disagreeing with me, opposing me, or protesting me,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAll of that is core to democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, he added, \u201cwhen opposition and disagreement transition to harassment, including cornering me, touching me, or trying to physically bully me out of a public event, that crosses a line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wiener said the Trans March incident followed another confrontation Wednesday night at a bar in the Mission District, where he had gone to watch a World Cup game with staffers. During the game, he said, a man cornered him and the young women staffers who were with him, screamed abuse at them, and was removed by bar employees.<\/p>\n

After being ejected, Wiener said, the man stayed outside the bar for several minutes, shouting Wiener\u2019s name and pounding on the side of the building near where he was sitting. Wiener said the same man had previously stalked him on a plane and in an airport in December 2023, shouting at him about his \u201ctainted bloodline.\u201d<\/p>\n

The incident comes as political violence and intimidation increasingly shape what it means for LGBTQ+ people to seek or hold public office. A recent LGBTQ+ Victory Institute report<\/a>, \u201cThreats on the Trail: Experiences With Political Violence Among LGBTQ+ Candidates in the USA,\u201d surveyed 215 LGBTQ+ candidates who ran between 2023 and 2025 across 42 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C. The report found that nearly nine in 10 candidates worried that running as out LGBTQ+ people would increase their risk of harassment or attack, while four in five feared physical violence. Nearly two-thirds experienced in-person harassment during their campaigns, almost eight in 10 encountered online abuse, and one in three reported receiving online death threats.<\/p>\n

Evan Low, president and CEO of the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute and a former California state legislator, told The Advocate in May that candidate safety has become a question of democratic participation itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, it\u2019s not just about simply the individual harassment, but whether or not LGBT people can safely participate in our American democracy,\u201d Low said. \u201cIf members of our community don\u2019t feel safe, how do we participate in American democracy?\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Kevin Mullin, a California Democrat who represents part of the Bay Area, condemned the incident and defended Wiener.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened to Senator @Scott_Wiener last night was unacceptable,\u201d Mullin wrote on X. \u201cHere in the Bay Area we have a long and proud history of heated protest and passionate disagreement; last night was not that. There is simply no place for hate speech, harassment, and violence \u2014 in our politics or elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related: Here’s why gay California lawmaker Scott Wiener is running for Nancy Pelosi’s U.S. House seat<\/a><\/p>\n

Mullin added that elected officials and candidates \u201cdo not lose their right to basic human decency\u201d by appearing in their communities.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Lovitz, senior vice president of campaigns and communications at the Human Rights Campaign<\/a>, also responded to Wiener\u2019s statement with a warning about antisemitism inside LGBTQ+ and progressive spaces. Lovitz urged Wiener to keep fighting.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing Jewish in some queer spaces has felt less safe than I\u2019ve ever felt being queer in Jewish spaces,\u201d Lovitz wrote in a comment on Wiener\u2019s post. \u201cWe\u2019ve allowed too many people to mistake outrage for justice and hate for activism. If we won\u2019t confront antisemitism within our own movements, we undermine everything we claim to stand for \u2014 and weaken the democratic values that protect us all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlotte Clymer, a transgender writer, activist, and Army veteran, also condemned the confrontation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be abundantly clear that what happened to Scott Wiener at yesterday\u2019s trans rights rally in San Francisco was disgusting, appalling, and unacceptable,\u201d Clymer wrote on Facebook.<\/p>\n

Clymer said she was grateful for Wiener\u2019s support for transgender equality and rejected the suggestion that the confrontation was simply about Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis asinine behavior is not about Gaza,\u201d she wrote. \u201cIt is about hatred of Jewish people. It is antisemitism. Mr. Wiener was targeted for being Jewish.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California state Sen. Scott Wiener says he was harassed, threatened, and physically intimidated at San Francisco\u2019s Trans March…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[3629,153158,153157,153156,101,4459,103,102,1621,104,106,105,153100],"class_list":["post-378548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-antisemitism","tag-charlotte-clymer","tag-human-rights-campaign","tag-jonathan-lovitz","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-bay-area","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-scott-wiener","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-trans-march"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}