MAGA candidate’s book-burning stunt shows Missouri’s reputation for censorship, hate | Opinion

A Republican candidate for Missouri secretary of state posted a viral video to her campaign account on X (formerly Twitter) showing her proudly incinerating LGBTQ+ literature with a flamethrower.

Valentina Gomez, 24, is the young far-right wannabe politico behind the video.

In Missouri, the duties of the secretary of state happen to include administering the Missouri State Library. That includes promulgating regulations on materials available at public libraries throughout the state.

Jay Ashcroft, the current secretary of state running as a Republican candidate for governor, has garnered a reputation for being extremely anti-LGBTQ+ and pro-book ban by instituting aggressive regulations on librarians across Missouri. He also is outspoken about his support for criminalizing librarians for simply doing their jobs.

Under his tenure, in part, Missouri is one of the worst U.S. states for book censorship.

PEN America ranked Missouri — after only Texas and Florida — as one of the worst states in the union to read controversial literature in public and school libraries.

This all stems from the far right’s obsession with LGBTQ+ people’s private lives, attempting to oust the topic from the national culture.

Books such as the award-winning graphic novel “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by illustrator Maia Kobabe or “Queer: The Ultimate LGBTQ Guide for Teens” by writers Kathy Belge and Marke Bieschke are considered obscene by folks like Ashcroft and Gomez. “Queer” is one of the books burned in Gomez’s video — and the camera makes sure to capture its title, written in the rainbow colors of the Pride flag. The imagery isn’t subtle.

Civil libertarians and LGBTQ+ rights activists have rightfully challenged a variety of similar laws passed by hard-right state legislatures across the United States. Book bans are proving to be unconstitutional and a direct violation of the First Amendment and the protected right to read, for both young people and adults.

Even the notoriously conservative U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a law in Texas that could ban or restrict library books. The three-judge panel found that Texas has absolutely no right to “enforcing a regulation that violates federal law.” The panel found the legislation was unconstitutional.

Gomez adds a sinister dimension, though. One of four vying for the Republican nomination, she posted this text with her viral video: “When I’m Secretary of State, I will BURN all books that are grooming, indoctrinating, and sexualizing our children.” She concluded the post with “MAGA” and “America First.”

Echoes of historical campaigns against minorities

The distinctly unqualified Gomez offers no sort of a strategy beyond burning books. While there is clear evidence this is a ploy to grift Republican primary voters for money, she undeniably displays that she is a believer in conspiracy theories and bigotry.

At this point, though, all of this is well beyond Gomez and her electability. Remember when state Sen. Bill Eigel went viral last September?

The Republican candidate for governor posted a similar video to his social media accounts of himself brandishing a flamethrower. While he didn’t burn actual books, he burned boxes and used rhetoric that led people to think they were full of books. The far-right Eigel, accompanied in the video by GOP state Sen. Nick Schroer, used tropes similar to Gomez’s.

What is the purpose of the book burning imagery for these politicians — especially Gomez, who actually carried out the act?

Historically, book burning has been used as a ritualistic tactic by individuals who have a cultural, religious, spiritual or political opposition to the subject matter of the books being burned. It’s political theater at its most extreme — a performative aspect of censorship campaigns throughout history.

Just like burning the American flag, burning a book is a protected form of expression. The doctrines of free speech and hate speech are very complicated. Gomez made a political statement in the spirit of her far-right ideology. Unfortunately, that is beside the point.

We sometimes make comparisons of current events to atrocities of the past too glibly. But would-be politicians obliterating representations of minority communities with violence — literally — can’t help but be reminiscent in many people’s eyes of the organized campaigns of Nazi brownshirts and the Deutsche Studentenschaft in the spring of 1933 to burn all books that weren’t compatible with Nazism or the genocidal horrors of Adolf Hitler.

Gomez is contributing to a cultural movement seeking to stamp out queerness in American culture. So have Eigel and Ashcroft. There is very little that can justify this type of behavior and hatred. If, by some chance, a candidate as extreme as them were to take office, our state would slide into a dark age for free expression.

Is this what Missouri Republicans stand for?

Michael McGrady Jr., writing from Springfield, is a journalist and commentator covering censorship on the internet.