California State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) blamed conservative pundit and youth leader Charlie Kirk for a hateful voice mail he says was left for him after Kirk tweeted that Wiener was letting pedophiles out of jail.
Kirk, who leads Turning Point USA, was referring to a law proposed by Wiener and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in 2020 that reduced the criminal penalties for adults convicted of having underage oral or anal sex with minors if they are within ten years of age of each other, and if the victim is above 14 years old.
Specifically, the law gave judges discretion as to whether to compel those convicted to register as sex offenders if the anal or oral sex was consensual, despite the minor being below the age of consent, which is 18 in California.
Wiener defended the law as being necessary to correct a disparity in California’s criminal code that allowed the same discretion for judges in cases of statutory rape involving heterosexual or “penile-vaginal intercourse.”
Kirk tweeted, without citing evidence, that “thousands” of pedophiles were being released in California after a few months in jail due to Weiner’s legislation, and blamed Weiner for the lenient treatment of “predators.”
Wiener responded by calling Kirk an “attention-seeking liar.” On Wednesday, he also posted a screenshot of a “homophobic” message he said he received, though critics pointed out that it had a cursor mark and other signs that the note had been created by the alleged recipient. In a later reply to his own tweet, Wiener did not deny having created the document but said that it was a transcription of a voice mail that he had received.
Wiener has also authored other controversial legislation, including a recently-enacted law making California a “sanctuary” state for children seeking “gender-affirming” surgery or drugs without parental consent. The New York Times admitted Wednesday in a lengthy article that some of these treatments could cause permanent damage to young people, and that the scientific basis for providing these treatments is not yet established.
In addition, Wiener co-sponsored a 2017 law reducing criminal penalties for those who intentionally infect others with HIV, the virus that causes Aids, through consensual — but not informed — sexual intercourse.
Wiener has challenged his own party on occasion, most recently leading demonstrations by gay men against the failure of President Joe Biden to make enough monkeypox vaccines available during the recent outbreak.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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