Marke Bieschke, author and co-owner of the city’s iconic San Francisco club known as The Stud, also has the dubious honor of seeing one of his books set on fire by a political candidate wearing a flamethrower. X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
In the video, Missouri Secretary of State Valentina Gomez places at least two LGBTQ+-friendly books on a metal stool, stands a few feet back, and then lets loose with a makeshift flamethrower.
“When I am Secretary of State, I will BURN all the books that groom, indoctrinate and sexualize our children,” she wrote on X. “MAGA. America First.”
Bieschke’s book “Queer: The Ultimate LGBTQ Guide for Teens,” co-written with Kathy Belge, happened to be one of the books she scorched, and he reposted her video to his own X account on Wednesday.
“My book has been banned or challenged in several states – and publicly burned by a candidate in Missouri!” wrote Bieschke, who said he posted it in part because it’s Pride Month.
Despite being outright banned or challenged in Florida, Texas, Utah, Louisiana, Maine, Oklahoma, Idaho and Arizona, “Queer” will hopefully go to a third printing, according to Bieschke.
“We really just wanted to write the book that we wanted to have access to growing up as queer teens and trying to learn more about what that meant,” he said, adding that during his formative years in the 1980s and 1990s, information about things like LGBTQ dating, sex, history, activism, social connections, coming out, and even what basic words like “queer” meant were very difficult to find.
Bieschke says he randomly came across Gomez’s post in his social media feed and recognized his own book at the end of her shooting.
“At first I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “The items in those historic photos of Nazis burning books were actually sex-positive, early LGBTQ books and manuscripts by the pioneering sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld, so it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that it felt like a throwback to those terrifying days, even if this time it was a Latina woman with a canister flamethrower and cheap Payless boots burning the fire.”
Bieschke said that once he got over the shock, he realized he could use her stunt to spread the book and make it even more available to gay youth — the exact opposite of her intention with her video. Both authors worked with the GLO Center in Springfield, Missouri, a place for LGBTQ resources, advocacy and community connection, to get more books into local youth centers and libraries.
“Maybe even the one she claimed stole the book from in the first place,” Bieschke said.
The first edition of “Queer” was published in 2011 and subsequently a second printing was released in 2020, which was revised to better reflect the country’s seemingly greater acceptance – and in some cases even celebration – of queerness, with revisions subject to consultation with transgender writer Mia Tu Mutch and a panel of teenagers from different backgrounds.
But with more recent civil rights moves, such as marriage equality, came a backlash against gender-affirming care for transgender people and outright laws against drag shows.
Gomez has even placed homophobia at the center of her programme, where she often equates queerness with pedophilia or ‘grooming’, which is generally defined as manipulating a child or young person for the purpose of sexually exploiting or assaulting them. Some extremists believe that people can “become gay” by grooming themselves.
Gomez is attending the August 6 primary in Missouri and hopes to fill the seat of Republican Jay Ashcroft, who is running for governor. If elected, one of Gomez’s duties as secretary of state would be to oversee many aspects of libraries, which she says are currently repositories of “pornography.”
On her campaign site, she steers clear of the more bombastic language she saves for social media, but she does have “Library Accountability” as one of her campaign promises.
“Valentina will review funding for libraries and programs to ensure they truly strengthen Missouri’s future,” it said.
Gomez, a 24-year-old Colombian, has made many homophobic statements, including a video of her jogging through a gay-friendly St. Louis neighborhood in a bulletproof vest with the words, “In America you can be anything you want.” want, so don’t be weak and gay.”
The videos Gomez makes tend to go viral, which may explain the fact that the vast majority of her campaign donors are from abroad, including two people from California, according to April campaign documents.
Gomez did not respond to a request for comment.
Her stance on LGBTQ+ issues led to a divorce this week between her and Nestle Purina, where she worked in “finance and strategy,” according to her LinkedIn profile. Gomez posted a video of herself in front of Purina headquarters saying she “fired” them for being “woke,” adding that she will not support a company that wants to “empower and protect pedophiles.”
A Nestlé Purina spokesperson confirmed Thursday that Gomez has left the company.
“At Purina, we are deeply rooted in respect, and during her employment, Ms. Gomez was treated with the same respect as all employees. We also respect her decision to part ways to pursue her political ambitions,” the company said.
Purina also said its book burning video does not reflect its values after Gomez first posted it in February.
“Ms. Gomez does not speak for Purina with her words and actions. The behavior in this video goes against the expectations we have for our employees,” the company said.
When asked how it feels to be equated with a “groomer,” Bieschke joked that he likes guys his own age, thank you very much.
“But seriously,” he said, “if talking honestly and openly about sexuality and sexual health is ‘grooming,’ then parents have been doing this with their own children for centuries.”
Bieschke said there is nothing more telling in the book than what would be presented in a basic sex education course. And he and Belge saw it as their duty to ensure that information about safer sex and sexual health was available to young people, especially after experiencing the AIDS crisis.
“Not to mention information on depression, suicide hotlines, bullying, online harassment, substance abuse and general safety,” he said. “It’s a matter of life and death for teens who are still marginalized and oppressed. All we ‘groom’ young people for is a happy, fulfilling life full of love and freedom of self-expression.”
