BY: DM
Published 2 hours ago
Charlie Kirk — founder of Turning Point USA and a prominent MAGA talking head — was long known for inflammatory public statements about LGBTQIA+ people. He frequently invoked religion in those attacks, once calling transgender medical care a “middle finger to God,” according to Reuters.
When news broke that Kirk was shot at a Utah college event, a wave of official sympathy poured in. U.S. President Biden and former President Trump both decried the killing as horrific. Trump praised Kirk as “legendary” and lamented his death, and bipartisan leaders from governors to lawmakers condemned the political violence.
Yet even as many mourned the tragedy, a parallel reaction occurred on social media and in certain activist circles. Commenters on the left recalled the decade of hate-filled statements Kirk had made. For members of the LGBTQIA+ community, Kirk’s rhetoric was harmful. Advocates have spoken out following his death, voicing concern about his messaging.
What has Charlie Kirk said about the LGBTQIA+ community?
Kirk was never one to shy away from his opinion and stood firm on his beliefs about the LGBTQIA+ community. In 2022, the Turning Point USA founder argued that gay couples “are not happy just having marriage. Instead, they now want to corrupt your children.” Unfortunately, Kirk did not stop there.
“One issue I think that is so against our senses, so against the natural law, and dare I say a throbbing middle finger to God, is the transgender thing happening in America right now,” Kirk said during a speech posted in 2023 (per Reuters).
LGBTQIA+ advocates say Kirk’s rhetoric was more than just offensive — it was actively harmful. Civil-rights groups condemned his statements as disinformation that stokes fear. GLAAD, a leading LGBTQIA+ media organization, told Reuters that Kirk often spread misinformation. “It is also a demonstrable fact that Charlie Kirk spread infinite amounts of disinformation about LGBTQIA+ people,” a spokesperson said. “Lies and vitriol about transgender people were a frequent part of his rhetoric and events.”
Charlie Kirk had a history of making controversial statements.
Kirk’s hostility extended far beyond the LGBTQIA+ community. He regularly targeted racial and religious minorities, immigrants, and women with provocative claims. He called the 1964 Civil Rights Act “a huge mistake” and blamed Black Americans for social problems. In a July 2023 radio show, he claimed Black leaders like Joy Reid, Michelle Obama, and Ketanji Brown Jackson “did not have the intelligence to achieve what they did without affirmative action,” quipping that they “had to go steal a white person’s slot to be taken seriously.”
Kirk promoted the far-right “Great Replacement” conspiracy, warning Democrats wanted to make America diverse, Media Matters reports. “The American Democrat party hates this country. They want to see it collapse. They love it when America becomes less white.”
On immigration, he praised an era of near-zero foreign immigration and insisted America should be unafraid to ban most newcomers again. “America was at its peak when we halted immigration for 40 years, and we dropped our foreign-born percentage to its lowest level ever. We should be unafraid to do that,” Kirk said during one of his broadcasts.
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