"Well, Governor, I'm so glad that Kirk made you feel so good, because he made so many of us feel awful. He made us scared, marginalized, and angry. Yes, we can be angry too, Governor, even though you told all of us to take an off-ramp with our anger,. Maybe those of us who were stung by his words can try to off-ramp, but that's not what's going to happen to everyone else."
"Why? Because Kirk's hate speech will live on in the generation he tried to indoctrinate. There's no off-ramp for them, because many of them harbor the same hate Kirk did toward people of color, women, queer people, and even people who have battled mental illness like me. Governor, I admire your conviction to try to lower the temperature. I agree with you and admire you for using your voice, your words, but you're wrong when you say words are just words. They are."
"You can't pick and choose Kirk's word, and then say that Kirk's words "calmed" you. Because what you leave out is all the damage those words did to so many of us. It's fitting that some of his final words were vindictively cruel lies about the transgender community, because that's how many who came of age listening to Kirk will continue his mission by vilifying them and anyone else Kirk deemed different."
Governor Spencer Cox expressed anger and sadness but said he found comfort in Charlie Kirk's words after Kirk's alleged killer was captured. Many people felt fear, marginalization, and anger because of Kirk's rhetoric. Kirk's statements targeted people of color, women, queer people, and those with mental illness, and those messages continue to influence a generation. Social media critics of Kirk face backlash from the right for exercising free speech. Final statements by Kirk included lies about the transgender community, and some people now lionize him, deepening wounds for millions.
Read at Advocate.com
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