A children’s story hour at Springfield-Greene County Library devolved into a bizarre political rally last Friday, and days later spiraled even further into a book-burning by a Republican candidate for Missouri’s secretary of state.
In a post to X (formerly Twitter), that has since been censored, an unhinged video shot outside of the library shows Valentina Gomez setting two queer books aflame and vowing to burn more should she succeed in securing public office.
Gomez, 24, visited the library on Friday, and by Tuesday posted a video of the book-burning to X. In the video, she appears to use a homemade flamethrower decorated to resemble the shark-toothed aircraft popularized by the Flying Tigers in World War II to incinerate two library books on a stool.
One of the books that was burned was Queer: The Ultimate LGBTQ Guide for Teens by authors Kathy Belge and Mark Bieschke. The other was Naked: Not Your Average Sex Encyclopedia by Myriam Daguzan Bernier, a guide for teens about health.
“When I’m Secretary of State, I will BURN all books that are grooming, indoctrinating, and sexualizing our children. MAGA. America First,” Gomez wrote. The use of the term "grooming" has been historically used by politicians to demean the LGBTQ+ community and to hurl false stereotypes of inappropriate behavior. It pushes a narrative that queer people attempt to “recruit” children.
The video ends with Gomez wearing a tactical vest and holding a rifle, and it can be viewed here (warning: graphic language).
In another post since deleted from X, Gomez again shared a photo of herself holding the rifle, this time writing, “Thank you for your support, stay away from the children. I’m not asking.” This was in response to a different post of hers from an hour before wherein she said, “I will protect the children, even if the world is against me. I’ve got Jesus by my side.”
Interestingly enough, book-burning and book-banning aren’t mentioned in Gomez’s online platform, but the complete removal of electronic voting machines is. Still, Gomez isn’t the first Missouri Republican hopeful to flirt with book-burning as a political stunt. Bill Eigel, a gubernatorial candidate, came under fire last year for threatening to burn books and then incinerating “empty boxes that represented leftist policies,” as RFT reported at the time.
Book-banning, too, seems to be a favorite hobby of Missouri’s right-wing politicians, with the state topping national charts at No. 3 in the country for the number of books prohibited in schools, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Gomez could potentially face criminal charges for destroying public property owned by the library, but it is unclear if the library will press charges.
Library officials did not respond to requests for comment on the issue as of publication deadline.
The library’s event was supposed to be a children’s book reading with surfer Bethany Hamilton and swimmer Riley Gaines, who have come under fire for transphobic rhetoric towards trans athletes.
The event turned into something more political when current Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and candidate Gomez spoke in opposition to DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) efforts and critical race theory, Brittany Dyer and her wife Heather Dyer tell the RFT.
The Dyers attended as part of a protest against the event, along with about 20 others.
Before any of the authors spoke, Gomez and Ashcroft addressed the crowd. Gomez held up the books she later burned, claimed they came from the children’s section, and promised to end LGBTQ, DEI and diversity efforts in the library, Brittany says. (Gomez has also stated on her campaign website that she will review "library funding.")
Neither of the books Gomez referenced were shelved in the teen or children’s section, instead coming from the adult self-help section, the Dyers say. They quickly denounced the stunt — and the serious escalation it seems to represent.
“It’s definitely a harmful rhetoric that’s being introduced,” Heather says.
“There's a direct reaction to this type of hate-filled rhetoric that spews from a political base that trickles down into personal lives and has deep and long-lasting impacts on people,” Brittany says. “Honestly, to say that it's dangerous — it's almost a nice way to put it. It's genuinely deadly to some people in the community.”
According to Gomez's LinkedIn account, she works at Nestle Purina North America.
A Purina Spokesperson responded to RFT and said the following regarding Gomez' actions:
"Ms. Gomez does not speak for Purina with her words and actions. The behavior in this video runs counter to the expectations we have for our employees."
Purina did not say if there would be an investigation or any consequences for the incident.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story contained inaccurate info about current Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft. He has not endorsed Gomez. We regret the error. We also added two additional details after publication, including Gomez's LinkedIn assertion that she works at Nestle Purina.
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