Governor vetoes bill that would’ve funded Charlie Kirk’s anti-LGBTQ+ groups
Charlie Kirk was shot dead in Utah. (Getty)
A Democratic governor has vetoed legislation that would have used taxpayer dollars to fund Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA.
Arizona governor Katie Hobbs rejected a GOP-led Senate bill that would have donated $17 from a range of $25 licence plates honouring the late right-wing pundit to the young conservative organisation.
Turning Point USA has been accused of pushing anti-trans and anti immigration rhetoric.
In her 6 March veto letter, Hobbs said the bill did not help anyone in Arizona and unnecessarily brought “politics into a function of government that should remain non-partisan.”
TPUSA raised $84 million in 2024 and its political action committee Turning Point Action (which supports far-right Republican candidates and registers conservative voters) raised over $27 million that same year, according to the Arizona Mirror.
Democratic legislators expressed concerns about the bill’s implications, particularly given TPUSA’s substantial financial resources, and the fact that similar proposals for LGBTQ+ Pride license plates, that would provide donations to local queer rights organisations, have been repeatedly blocked by Republican lawmakers.
Kirk was shot dead during a crowded open-air debate on gun violence at Utah Valley University in September last year.
Just moments before being shot in the neck, Kirk was answering a question on mass shootings in the US, falsely claiming that the majority of mass shooters in the US were transgender.
His death prompted widespread furore among right-wing politicians and pundits, many of whom began calling for trans activists to be labelled as extremists.
The right-wing commentator was no stranger to expressing his homophobic and transphobic views. He was also accused of racism on multiple occasions, including after he insulted the “brain processing power” of Black women.
In another tirade, he said: “If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified.”
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