Jewish lawmaker who champions trans rights says he was forced to leave SF Trans March after he was confronted about Gaza

By Gloria Pazmino, CNN

(CNN) — Congressional candidate and California state Sen. Scott Wiener, a prominent gay Democrat who has spearheaded pro-transgender rights legislation, was surrounded and berated by protesters at San Francisco’s annual Trans March on Friday as they accused him of supporting genocide in Gaza.

A video widely shared on social media shows Wiener, who is Jewish, walking through Dolores Park as a person films and follows him, along with several other protesters berating Wiener over his position on Gaza.

“It breaks my heart that someone who wrote good legislation for queers is so f**king terrible on Gaza,” one protester says in the video.

Wiener does not engage with the group as he tries to exit the park. Some protesters flash their middle fingers and, at one point, accuse him of being “genocidal” and having “Zionist handlers.”

“Scott, do you have anything to say? How could you do this to San Francisco?” the person taking the video says while continuing to follow Wiener. “You do not belong here anymore, Scott. I want to support someone who’s so positive on trans rights, but you’re a piece of sh*t on Gaza.”

Wiener, a candidate in the race to replace retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi in the US House, issued a statement Saturday, saying he had been on his way to participate in a trans-led Pride Shabbat service connected to the march.

He said the protesters touched him multiple times and that he ultimately decided to leave the park, believing he and his staff could be in danger.

“They were so physically and verbally aggressive that it was impossible for me to safely remain in the park,” Wiener said in the statement.

It was the first time he did not participate in the march since it began in 2004, Wiener said.

Wiener said the incident at Dolores Park followed another confrontation two days earlier, when a man accosted him and his staff at a Mission District bar where he was watching a World Cup game.

“He screamed abuse at me and our staff before being ejected by the bar’s employees,” Wiener said in the statement, adding that the man remained outside the bar, shouting his name and pounding on the wall for several minutes. Wiener said the same individual had stalked him on a plane and in an airport in December 2023.

“I have no objection whatsoever to anyone disagreeing with me, opposing me, or protesting me. All of that is core to democracy,” Wiener said. “But when 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.”

Wiener told CNN on Monday he believed he had been singled out at the march because he is Jewish, saying protesters made references to him having “Israeli handlers.”

“There were elected officials in that march who have not taken the positions that I’ve taken, and they were left alone. It was only me who was targeted,” Wiener said. “So, was it antisemitic? Absolutely. And it’s really tragic.”

Wiener said he had not heard from Pelosi or from his primary opponent, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, who has Pelosi’s endorsement. He said he had instead heard from “hundreds and hundreds” of San Francisco residents, including members of the trans community, who he said were “horrified” by the incident.

“Most of the people at the trans march are not like that. They are welcoming, wonderful people, and this gave a black eye to the trans march,” he said.

Wiener has become a prominent figure in the pitched debates over transgender rights and US policy toward Israel.

Wiener has said he supports Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and affirmed its right to protect itself after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks. He has also been critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and has called for a two-state solution.

As he campaigns for Congress, Wiener has taken positions that have drawn criticism from supporters of Israel, including opposing US military aid to Israel until its government demonstrates a commitment to peace, and describing Israel’s military action in Gaza as a genocide, a position featured on his campaign website.

During a January debate, Wiener declined to describe Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide. Days later, he said he had hesitated to use the term because of its significance for many Jewish people but had concluded that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza amounted to genocide.

In the CNN interview, Wiener pushed back on the suggestion that his shifting stance on Gaza had been driven by political pressure, saying he had been a critic of the Israeli government for years.

“I began opposing it in October of 2023, and I supported a ceasefire in November of 2023,” he said. “So I’ve been opposed to Israel’s escalations in Gaza for a long time.”

Explaining his decision to call the war a genocide, Wiener said in an Instagram post: “We all have eyes and we see the absolute devastation and catastrophic death toll in Gaza inflicted by the Israeli government, and we all have ears and we hear the genocidal statements by certain senior members of the Israeli government.”

“To me, the Israeli government has tried to destroy Gaza and to push Palestinians out, and that qualifies as a genocide,” he said.

The Israeli government has strenuously denied that its military campaign in Gaza constitutes genocide, calling such accusations baseless and pointing to its stated efforts to evacuate civilians and target Hamas militants. A growing number of international bodies and human rights organizations, however, have concluded that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide.

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