Charlie Kirk spent years as the face of the young conservative movement. He was the guy with the "Prove Me Wrong" table, the high-energy speaker at Turning Point USA summits, and a lightning rod for controversy. But if you look at the track record of charlie kirk on gays, it wasn't a static thing. It shifted. It got harder. Eventually, it became a central pillar of his pivot toward Christian Nationalism before his sudden death in September 2025.
Honestly, the way people talk about his views often misses the nuance of his evolution. Early on, Kirk was more of a "small government" libertarian-leaning conservative. He focused on taxes and free speech. But as the culture wars heated up, his rhetoric regarding the LGBTQ+ community underwent a massive transformation. He moved from "let people do what they want" to suggesting that the very existence of same-sex marriage was a mistake.
The Shift From Libertarian to Moral Crusader
In the early days of Turning Point USA, Kirk’s primary target was "the left" in a general sense. He wanted to talk about the Constitution and the free market. But around 2022, something changed. He began describing LGBTQ+ advocacy as a "Marxist Trojan Horse." You’ve probably seen the clips where he argues that the movement isn't about equality anymore, but about "corrupting children."
This wasn't just a stray comment. It was a strategy. By 2024, during a visit to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he was telling gay conservative students to their faces that he disagreed with their "lifestyle." He told one student that they shouldn't identify by their sexuality because "that’s not who you are."
It’s kinda fascinating to watch that shift in real-time. He went from a guy who broke bread with gay conservatives like Dave Rubin—who famously called Kirk a "radically decent" human after his death—to a leader who championed a very rigid, biblical definition of marriage.
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The 2024 Leviticus Controversy
If there is one moment that defines the later years of charlie kirk on gays, it’s the June 2024 episode of The Charlie Kirk Show. This was the "Ms. Rachel" incident. Rachel Anne Accurso, the popular YouTube educator for toddlers, posted a video wishing everyone a "Happy Pride" and citing the "love thy neighbor" commandment.
Kirk didn't just disagree. He went nuclear. He pointed to Leviticus, specifically referencing the passages that mention stoning as "God's perfect law."
"Ms. Rachel, might want to crack open that Bible of yours... the chapter before affirms God's perfect law when it comes to sexual matters."
This sparked a massive firestorm. Stephen King even got involved, initially claiming Kirk was advocating for the actual stoning of gay people. King eventually apologized and retracted the claim, clarifying that Kirk was "demonstrating how some people cherry-pick Biblical passages."
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But the damage, or the "brand building" depending on who you ask, was done. Kirk wasn't calling for violence in a legal sense, but he was explicitly aligning himself with a theocratic worldview where biblical law—including the harsh parts—was framed as the ideal standard.
Marriage, Adoption, and Christian Nationalism
By 2025, Kirk’s views on same-sex marriage had fully solidified into opposition. He began calling the Obergefell v. Hodges decision a disaster. He didn't just want to stop future progress; he wanted to roll back the clock.
His stance on adoption was equally firm. On various platforms, he argued that "monogamous heterosexual marriage should be a prerequisite to adoption." His logic? He believed children have a "right" to a mother and a father, and anything else was an experiment on the next generation.
This coincided with his broader embrace of Christian Nationalism. He stopped talking about the "separation of church and state" as a virtue. Instead, he started arguing that the US Constitution was never meant to be secular. In his view, the "gay agenda" was the primary wedge being used to secularize America and destroy the nuclear family.
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The Dave Rubin Connection
It’s a bit of a paradox, isn't it? How does a man who thinks same-sex marriage is a "mistake" remain close friends with a high-profile gay conservative like Dave Rubin?
Rubin has been vocal about this. After Kirk was killed in 2025, Rubin went on Fox News and Sky News to defend him. He talked about how they had "broken bread" and attended weddings together. To Rubin, Kirk was a man of "decency" who could disagree with your life choices but still treat you with respect as a person.
But for many in the LGBTQ+ community, that personal "decency" didn't matter when his public platform was being used to dismantle their legal protections. The Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus made this clear in their statement following his death. They noted that while political violence is abhorrent, Kirk had spent his career "spreading anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric that put many in our community at risk."
The Legacy of His Views
When we look at the impact of charlie kirk on gays and the conservative movement, it’s clear he helped move the Overton Window. He made it "okay" for mainstream young conservatives to move away from the "live and let live" libertarianism of the 2010s and back toward a hardline, religious-based social conservatism.
He wasn't just a talker; he was an organizer. Turning Point USA’s "Young Women’s Leadership Summit" in 2025 featured his wife, Erika Kirk, who echoed his sentiments by calling for a "revival of Biblical womanhood." The message was clear: the future of the movement was heterosexual, traditional, and unapologetically biblical.
Actionable Insights for Understanding This Topic:
- Look at the Timeline: Don't assume his 2016 views are the same as his 2024 views. The pivot to Christian Nationalism changed his rhetoric significantly.
- Separate Personal from Political: Understand the distinction between his personal friendships (like with Dave Rubin) and his policy goals (repealing Obergefell). They often seem to contradict each other.
- Monitor the Legal Fallout: With Kirk's death in 2025 and the rise of figures like Erika Kirk in TPUSA, watch how the organization continues to lobby against same-sex marriage and gender-affirming care.
- Verify the Quotes: As seen with the Stephen King retraction, Kirk often used "biblical hypotheticals" that were technically not calls to action but were framed as "perfect laws." Accuracy matters in these debates.
The conversation about Charlie Kirk and the LGBTQ+ community isn't just about one man. It’s about a broader shift in the American right—a move away from individual liberty and toward a collective, religious identity. Whether you agreed with him or found his views "monstrous," there is no denying he was one of the most effective messengers for that shift in the 21st century.