Oct 1
Out Sen. Scott Wiener's Folsom Fair Post Sets Right-Wingers to Seething, Gay Twitter to Chuckling
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Out California Sen. Scott Weiner posted a photo of himself enjoying the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco, going shirtless but wearing a leather necktie. Right-wing fury and anti-gay slurs soon followed, with trolls accusing Weiner of being a "pervert" and a "groomer" and twisting his legislative record.
It was an awful lot of energy to put into responses to an innocuous photo with the joking caption "Going all Senatorial at Folsom."
"Weimar Republic," one person posted in response to Weiner's tweet, referring to the period of liberation enjoyed by Germany's LGBTQ+ citizens just before the rise of the Nazis.
"You look as you are..." another declared, "a demon..."
Flared another, "You don't get more gro*mer than this."
One response included a photo of a man in an inflatable pool wearing a shirt emblazoned with the words "Piss pig." The man's face is not visible and there is no evidence that it is Sen. Weiner, but that didn't stop some from apparently assuming the lawmaker was the man in the photo.
"How many people are gonna pee on your today?" was one person's query.
"Did you meet the Total Toilet Pig?" another demanded.
X owner Elon Musk, whose anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric has been denounced by own transgender daughter, weighed in with an unsurprisingly critical take.
"Wiener is an utter scumbag," Musk declared, retweeting a post originated by an account called "End Wokeness."
Some trolls took aim at Weiner for his Jewish heritage, while others sought to tie the senator to presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate.
"JD Vance is weird," one person quoted – a refrain from the Harris campaign.
An opponent running for Weiner's senatorial seat posted a litany of claims that seemed to reduce various bills the lawmaker had supported to soundbites devoid of context or nuance.
Such attacks against the senator have been ongoing for years. Weiner's website and Instagram account have pushed back from time to time.
Even as anti-LGTBQ+ trolls launched their latest broadsides, Gay Twitter rose to the occasion. One wry comment anticipated the outpouring of wild accusations; others echoed that vibe.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
