QAnon followers attack California State Senator Scott Wiener

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill authored by Scott Wiener that ended discrimination against LGBTQ young people on the sex offender registry. “All we were doing was saying, ‘Let's treat everyone exactly the same way that straight kids are already treated.’ QAnon latched onto this legislation. And people started to spread misinformation that we were somehow ‘legalizing pedophilia.’ That was absolutely false,” says Scott Wiener.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill authored by Scott Wiener that ended discrimination against LGBTQ young people on the sex offender registry. “All we were doing was saying, ‘Let's treat everyone exactly the same way that straight kids are already treated.’ QAnon latched onto this legislation. And people started to spread misinformation that we were somehow ‘legalizing pedophilia.’ That was absolutely false,” says Scott Wiener. Photo courtesy of the Office of Scott Wiener

Followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory are targeting incumbent lawmakers with vicious online attacks and death threats. California State Senator Scott Wiener is one of those lawmakers. He talks to KCRW about his op-ed titled “What I Learned When QAnon Came for Me.”

From this Episode:

Credits

Host:

Madeleine Brand

Producers:

Sarah Sweeney, Angie Perrin, Michell Eloy, Rosalie Atkinson, Brian Hardzinski, Amy Ta, Rebecca Mooney