Charlie Kirk, Anti-LGBTQ Conservative, Shot Dead in Utah
The Turning Point USA co-founder, who once declared Pride a “sin” and opposed LGBTQ rights, was killed during a campus event at Utah Valley University.
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed by an assassin’s bullet during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Wednesday, Sept. 10.
The 31-year-old was the co-founder of Turning Point USA, an organization advocating for conservative politics and education on high school and college campuses.
At the time of the shooting, Kirk, who appeared on campus as part of his “American Comeback Tour,” was taking questions from people in the crowd while seated at a “Prove Me Wrong” table in the Sorensen Center courtyard on campus, according to The Associated Press.
A person in the crowd asked Kirk, “Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?”
“Too many,” Kirk responded.
The audience member then told Kirk that there had only been five transgender perpetrators of mass shootings over the past 10 years, and asked him if he knew how many total mass shootings there had been in America over the last 10 years, to which Kirk replied, “Counting or not counting gang violence?”
It was at that point that a shot rang out, striking Kirk in the neck. Video captured the gruesome scene, which went viral on social media.
The 31-year-old was taken to a local hospital by his own private security and was later declared dead. The search for his shooter remains underway.
Kirk long opposed LGBTQ rights and publicly opposed same-sex marriage. In more recent years, he would cite his “Christian values” as the basis for his positions, even quoting a Biblical verse from Leviticus, which calls same-sex relations an “abomination” and for those who commit it to be “put to death.” Kirk’s defenders have argued that he never explicitly called for the death penalty for LGBTQ individuals.
He was vocal in his opposition to recognizing transgender identity as valid. He not only championed bans on gender-affirming care for minors, but discouraged transitioning for transgender adults, calling the idea of transgender identity a “lie” and asserting that many people who transition ultimately experience regret. He labeled transgender identity as a “mental delusion.”
Kirk had asserted that Democrats are forcing a “woke” agenda on children that amounts to sexual grooming. He even argued, on a 2022 episode of his self-titled podcast, that “the alphabet mafia” — a derogatory term for the LGBTQ community — were not satisfied to have same-sex marriage legalized, but were pushing LGBTQ issues in an effort to “corrupt your children.”
Kirk called Pride a “sin” and a form of “cultural tyranny” and was vocal in his opposition to the public celebration of LGBTQ identity that accompanies Pride Month.
“Most people can accept that two adults have freedom in the privacy of their own home,” Kirk wrote in a post on X. “But Pride has become a public coercion campaign forcing the rest of us, even children, into celebrating alongside and eventually participating with the Alphabet Mafia under threat of being found guilty of ‘hate.'”
The conservative influencer also defended the notion that private businesses should have the right to discriminate against whomever they wish, without restraint. In defending a Supreme Court ruling in favor of a website designer who wanted to refuse to make wedding websites for same-sex couples, Kirk argued that the decision was not targeted at LGBTQ individuals, but was simply a trade-off for those wishing to enjoy liberty.
“When we have liberty, you’re going to have certain people wall off their doors to their private business and say no, no, no,” he said. “The ability to say no is what actually keeps our society orderly.”
Several Democratic lawmakers have denounced Kirk’s murder, but many on the right have been galvanized by it, calling for a war against liberals and leftists.
A number of conservatives have also claimed that Kirk was a “moderate” who believed in civil discourse, rather than violence.
The murder has resonated with a large swath of Americans, which is not surprising given the recent ascendancy of conservatives and the extent of Kirk’s reach, both online, through his podcast, social media accounts, and his working with Turning Point USA.
Kirk was an influential force in Republican Party politics, galvanizing Gen Z conservatives to get involved in the election on behalf of Republican candidates, including Trump.
He has been credited by many conservatives with helping to elect Trump, and used social media to marshal his extensive network of followers to apply pressure campaigns against Republican senators who wavered on confirming some members of Trump’s second cabinet.
Bisexual rapper Azealia Banks sparked backlash after posting on X that being gay or transgender is "not natural," calling both "a trauma response."
Banks made the comment in response to an X user who had replied to a since-deleted post.
"This post is giving assault victim coping mechanism rationalizing their abuse. Get help!" the user wrote, sharing an image of a tissue box reading, "It's okay to go to therapy!"
"Well, being gay and transgender is not actually a natural thing," Banks replied. "At all, it’s a trauma response. Science lied to you all and told you you were normal, but being homosexual -- and on the more extreme end, transgender -- is in fact a trauma response. No one is born gay, and no one is born in the wrong body. You guys have mental disorders that science is doing you a major disservice by not medicating. Bet you didn’t know that."
The U.S. Air Force says it will separate all transgender personnel with 15 to 18 years of service without retirement benefits. The move denies them early retirement under a policy that normally allows some members with more than 15 -- but fewer than 20 -- years of service to retire with prorated benefits instead of completing the standard 20 years.
Under the Temporary Early Retirement Authority (TERA), service members approved for early retirement receive prorated benefits -- including insurance coverage, disability pay, and access to housing on military bases.
The former Kentucky clerk -- and anti-LGBTQ culture warrior -- who went to jail rather than issue licenses to same-sex couples is now targeting the landmark 2015 ruling.
A decade after catapulting to right-wing stardom, Kim Davis -- the former Rowan County, Kentucky county clerk who chose jail over issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples -- has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its landmark 2015 decision that legalized marriage equality nationwide.
Represented by the anti-LGBTQ Liberty Counsel, Davis has formally asked the nation’s highest court to strip away the right of same-sex couples to marry.
A Mike Huckabee acolyte and four-time married fundamentalist zealot, Davis rose to fame in 2015 when she refused to issue marriage licenses to any couple -- gay or straight -- after the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision struck down all state-level bans on same-sex marriage, including Kentucky’s. Ordered to comply, she instead spent six days in jail for contempt of court.
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