Samy Nemir-Olivares, a prominent LGBTQ activist, district leader and candidate for Assembly District 54, was verbally attacked with an anti-gay slur during a fundraiser last week that took place over Zoom. The individuals responsible for the attack have yet to be identified.

Nemir-Olivares, a Puerto Rican-Dominican, queer candidate, would be the first openly gay Assembly member of color and the first genderqueer person in the state legislature. Because Nemir-Olivares is genderqueer and an advocate in furthering LGBTQ rights, many on the call viewed the incident as a targeted attack aimed squarely at Nemir-Olivares’ identity.

The attack began with loud, explicit music being played by an unmuted account on the call. When the host of the call – a member of Nemir-Olivares’ team – attempted to mute the account, the account in question began unmuting itself, according to Nemir-Olivares. While this occurred, an account wrote in the Zoom chat “F— you.”