Missouri Republican candidate sparks uproar for telling voters not to be ‘weak and gay’ while running in bulletproof vest

A controversial Republican candidate in Missouri is being slammed online for posting a video disparaging LGBTQ members as she ran in a bulletproof vest. 

Valentina Gomez, who is running for Secretary of State, posted the video on Sunday. “In America, you can be anything you want,” she said. “Don’t be weak and gay. Stay f****** hard.” The video then cuts to a photo of Ms Gomez holding a gun.

The video prompted immediate online backlash, with users mocking the bizarre video and condemning the anti-LGBTQ+ statement.

“‘Don’t be weak and gay’ supremely underestimates the strength required to coexist with idiots like this every day,” Brandon Wolf, national press secretary for the Human Rights Coalition, wrote on X.

It’s the latest in a string of controversial statements from Gomez, whose previous social media posts included setting fire to LGBTQ-inclusive books.

The backlash to her videos, including the most recent has been swift online.

“So refreshing to see a female GOP candidate who never served in the military doing the whole veteran cosplay, stolen valor, bigotry as a substitute for strength routine as well as any man,” wrote former Missouri Secretary of State and veteran Jason Kander.

“Republican election denier Valentina Gomez, who’s running to be Missouri’s Secretary of State, posts bizarre campaign video telling voters not to be ‘weak and gay’, while wearing a bulletproof vest,” former NBCUniversal executive Mike Sington also posted on X. “She then ends it with a photo holding firearms. Perfectly on-brand for MAGA.”

But Ms Gomez is not without GOP supporters. Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida expressed his support for her campaign just last month.

“There is surely not another Secretary of State candidate in