Republican Candidate Burns LGBT Books With Flamethrower in Viral Video

A candidate running to become Missouri's next secretary of state has gone viral after she was shown burning LGBTQ-friendly books with a flamethrower.

"These books come from a Missouri public library," Valentina Gomez said in a video posted to social media site X, formerly Twitter, which has since received over 431,000 views. "When I am in office, they will burn."

Banning books in the U.S. remains a contentious issue, with advocates saying the aim is to prevent vulnerable people such as children from accessing what they deem to be harmful material. Pro-free expression NGO PEN America says this most frequently targets "female, people of color, and/or LGBTQ+ individuals."

Newsweek has approached Gomez via a message on social media for comment.

The books being burned were Naked: Not Your Average Sex Encyclopedia, by author Myriam Daguzan Bernier. It advertises itself as "an essential and inclusive guide to sexuality for teens," in which "no topic is off limits."

The other appeared to be Queer, 2nd Edition: The Ultimate LGBTQ Guide for Teens.

This book, by Kathy Belge, promotes itself as "a humorous, engaging, and honest guide that helps LGBTQ teens come out to friends and family," according to its pitch on Amazon.

Newsweek has approached both authors for comment via an email out of hours.

The NGO's report "Banned in the USA: The Mounting Pressure to Censor" released in September last year said Missouri was the state with the third highest number of book bans in school districts by state in the U.S., behind Texas and Florida.

PEN America has also said a shifting of the goalposts of what is being labeled as "pornography" is being used to justify book bans. Rhetoric about "porn in schools" has also been advanced as justification for the passage or introduction of new state laws," the NGO said.

In August 2022, Missouri made "providing explicit sexual material to a student" in private and public elementary and secondary schools a Class A misdemeanor, meaning it is punishable by a year in jail and a fine up to $2,000.

This was introduced via an amendment by State Senator Rick Brattin, a Republican. He said the amendment was to counter "disgusting and inappropriate content making its way into our classrooms."

Democrat State Senator Jill Schupp co-sponsored the bill, known as Senate Bill (SB) 775. She told CBS News it had been "hijacked" by the amendment.

"Unfortunately, legislative extremists had other ideas and willfully hijacked a good bill to add language calling out 'pornography' in school literature," she said.

There are further pieces of proposed legislation relating to what content children should be allowed to see that could be considered in Missouri this year. House Bill (HB) 1543, for instance, will amend the definition of "explicit sexual material" in the current law text to apply to any material including "written material."

HB 1574 prevents the state librarian from giving out funds to libraries unless a written policy on "appropriateness for the age and maturity level of any person less than 18 years of age" is adopted.

A written policy is also required meaning a child cannot be given access to material that has not been approved by the child's parent.

Funds cannot be used for purchasing material that is deemed to be child pornography, while content deemed age-inappropriate cannot be displayed in library areas designed for minors.

Parents can also use the "library materials challenge policy" in which any person can dispute what the library deems is an appropriate reading age for certain books.

Violation of the law proposed in this bill could see someone fined up to $500.

A bill in the Missouri Senate, meanwhile, would hold a library or library staff "liable for damages for furnishing or allowing access of pornographic materials to a minor." There would be no exception if the content in the material was unknown.

People could seek up to at least $25,000 in damages, but nothing above $100,000.

The bill—SB 1330—was referred to the Missouri Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on January 25.

All three bills were sponsored by Republicans.

Update 02/07/24 1:27 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.