Don’t be ‘weak and gay’, Missouri Republican candidate tells voters in ‘cringe’ campaign video

Valentina Gomez

Missouri Republican candidate Valentina Gomez has urged Americans not to be “weak and gay” in a viral campaign video that has been called out as “beyond cringe”.

The candidate for Missouri secretary of state previously claimed she is being “censored” after a video of her burning LGBTQ+ books with a flamethrower was removed from Instagram earlier this year.

Now, taking to X/Twitter on Monday (13 May), the 25-year-old has posted equally offensive content, this time urging voters not to be “weak and gay”. 

In the clip Gomez is seen jogging through the LGBTQ+ neighbourhood of Soulard in St Louis, Missouri, while she says directly to the camera: “In America you can be anything you want, so don’t be weak and gay. Stay f***ing hard.”  

Video screenshots of Missouri Republican candidate Valentina Gomez taking a flamethrower to a pile of LGBTQ+ books
Missouri Republican candidate Valentina Gomez complained after footage of her burning LGBTQ+ books with flamethrower pulled from social media (Valentina Gomez/Twitter/X)

The clip, which tags conservative influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan, concludes by showing a photo of Gomez proudly holding a gun before ending on her “woman on a mission” campaign poster. 

Under the post, people were quick to call out Gomez for her “horrible” and “beyond cringe” content. 

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One person corrected her ignorance, writing: “Gay people are some of the strongest people I’ve ever known, mentally and physically”. 

The far-right candidate, who has described disgraced Republican Matt Gaetz as “the greatest congressman in history”, has previously had her campaign director confirm their “mission” is anti-LGBTQ+. 

In a statement to NBC News, Maicoll Gomez, Valentina Gomez’s campaign director, said: “You want to be gay? Fine, be gay. Just don’t do it around children.”

She added that their campaign is “against all drag shows around children, Pride flags in classrooms, teachers with pronouns, people wanting to ‘change’ genders, and people that can’t even define what a woman is.”

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