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The Republican candidate for Missouri’s secretary of state went viral Tuesday after posting a campaign video of himself setting LGBTQ-related books on fire with a flamethrower.
“If I become secretary of state, I’m going to reflect this in my appearance,” said Valentina Gomez, 24, of St. Louis. said in the video At least two books were posted on X, Facebook, and Instagram before being set on fire. “These books come from the Missouri public library. They’ll be on fire when I’m in the office.”
Gomez added “MAGA” and “America First” to her post to X.
The video then suddenly cuts to an image of Gomez. Her Gomez campaign website describes her as a real estate investor and financier, but she’s carrying the big guns. Two of her books under fire appear to be “Queer: The Ultimate LGBTQ Guide for Teens” and “Naked: Not Your Average Sex Encyclopedia.”
X restricted the publication of the post and added a note that it “may violate X’s rules against hateful behavior.”
“The message is simple,” Gomez’s campaign manager Mycol Gomez said in an emailed statement to NBC News on behalf of the candidate.
“Do you want to be gay? It’s okay to be gay. Just don’t do it near children,” the statement said. “Please stop putting books about the sexualization, brainwashing, and grooming of children in libraries. Children can learn math and science, develop interpersonal skills, and stay healthy while protecting their innocence.” I need to. I’m not learning the ideology that the radical left loves to impose on children. I don’t want drag shows surrounding children, pride flags in classrooms, teachers who use pronouns, or “changing” their gender. I oppose all those who wish that and who cannot even define what a woman is. If genitals don’t define gender, how can removing them affirm gender? The only thing I fear is God. ”
Cathy Berge, one of the authors of “Queer: The Ultimate LGBTQ Guide for Teens,” says Americans “not only believe that candidates for public office think it’s acceptable to burn books, but that it helps them get elected.” We should be concerned that it will be useful.” ”
“My book, Queer: The Ultimate LGBTQ Book for Teens, was written to provide teens with accurate and helpful information about what it means to be a member of the LGBTQ community. ” Berge said in a statement to NBC News. “We discuss important issues that teens face, like coming out, bullying, dating, finding community and support. And yes, we address haters like this political candidate. You also need to.”
Berge said a 2023 study by The Trevor Project, a youth suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization, found that LGBTQ teens are vulnerable, with 41% of them seriously considering suicide in the past year. He added that he was thinking about it.
“I challenge this candidate to leave queer kids alone and instead focus on real issues that will improve the lives of Missourians,” Berge said.
Gomez’s video garnered over 800,000 views and thousands of comments from both critics and supporters.
“Great job, protect the kids!” one Instagram commenter wrote. “Adults can do what they want, but please stop indoctrinating children with LGBTQ+ propaganda.”
However, other people with different political views disagreed with Gomez’s video.
“I’m a Republican. But burning books is not okay,” another person wrote on Instagram. “Make it somewhere you can’t check or see unless you’re over 18. It’s bad manners, but burning books will make people want more books.”
Some likened Gomez’s actions to the Nazi book-burning campaign of the 1930s, when student groups burned tens of thousands of books deemed “un-German” in Germany and Austria.
One Twitter user pointed out In Berlin, there is a memorial known as the Sunken Library, or the Empty Library, to commemorate the book burning incident. A plaque outside the monument bears the words of German writer Heinrich Heine: Where books are burned, people will eventually be burned too. ”
Gomez’s campaign manager declined to respond to the criticism.
According to Gomez’s website, she holds an MBA in finance and strategy from Tulane University, and her main campaign issues include “protecting children from the transgender agenda” and “protecting sports – gender.” There are only two.
“Valentina strongly opposes transgender-related medical procedures, therapies, treatments, prescriptions, or exposure to children under the age of 18,” her website states. “The physical and emotional harm our young people have suffered in the name of the transgender industry is unacceptable and must stop.”
Gomez’s website reflects the inflammatory language increasingly used by conservatives in recent years to describe transition-related medical care for transgender minors. However, parental consent is required for minors to receive treatment, and major medical associations such as the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and American Psychological Association support access for minors to such treatment. , opposes laws that restrict it.
In a video on Gomez’s Instagram account, she says she trusts three things: “The Bible, X, thank you, Elon Musk, and my AR-15.”
“The First Amendment lives on, but I want to remind you that the Second Amendment will make sure it lives on,” another wrote while watching a video of a gunman being shot.
Gomez’s book-burning video comes as conservative candidates and lawmakers target LGBTQ-related books and call for their removal from public and school libraries as a form of “indoctrination” or as harmful to children. It’s part of a larger national trend of people fighting for it.
Some, including Gomez, have even described LGBTQ-inclusive books and curriculum as child sexual grooming, invoking decades of false moral panic about LGBTQ people.
Missouri banned 333 books in the 2022-23 school year, according to a report by PEN America, a nonprofit organization that advocates for free expression in literature. A total of 1,915 unique titles were attempted across the United States between January 1 and August 31, 2023, an increase of 20% from the same period last year, according to a report from the American Library Association. Many of the books in question were titles related to LGBTQ people or race, or written by LGBTQ authors or people of color.
With bills targeting LGBTQ people and topics in schools, challenges to the books have also proliferated. Sixteen states have laws restricting how sexuality and gender identity can be discussed or taught in schools, with seven states banning discussion of LGBTQ people or themes in some or all grade levels. doing.
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