Gwyneth Gilkey, a transgender woman, serves as a commissioner in Martinez, Calif.
A city commissioner in California who also works in cybersecurity at a major international bank touted social media posts that called Charlie Kirk a “bad person” whose assassination is “cause for celebration.”
Gwyneth Gilkey, a transgender woman who serves as commissioner in Martinez, Calif., shared an article from the pro-trans outlet Assigned Media that cheered Kirk’s murder. Gilkey, who lists a job as manager of Capital One’s cyber threat research unit, was appointed earlier this year to the diversity and cultural commission in Martinez. The commission oversees the San Francisco suburb’s “diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging” initiatives, and conducts “community listening sessions.”
The article, which Gilkey promoted on the liberal social media site Bluesky, is entitled “Charlie Kirk is Dead. Here’s Why I’m Celebrating.” The piece, written by former Slate magazine employee Evan Urquhart, featured a cartoon of Kirk saying “When I died I pooped my pants.”
Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, was assassinated at Utah Valley University last week by 22-year-old Tyler Robinson. According to an indictment, Robinson harbored left-wing views and expressed hatred for Kirk. Robinson was living with a boyfriend who is in the process of transitioning to a woman.
Urquhart, whom Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Knight Science Journalism calls one of the “leading voices in transgender media coverage today,” expressed a “wild joy” over Kirk’s death.
“Fuck Charlie Kirk, and fuck you, if you don’t like me saying fuck him. I’m not afraid to say I’m glad I’m still alive at 47 while he is dead at 31,” wrote Urquhart, who was selected earlier this year as a Knight Science Journalism fellow at MIT.
The article is part of an outpouring of celebration from the left in support of Kirk’s murder. Numerous government officials, teachers, university professors, and church pastors have either celebrated Kirk’s death or smeared him as a racist and hate-monger. Urquhart, in his article, lamented that 15 people have been fired for their anti-Kirk remarks. One of those was a climate adviser for the Nasdaq stock exchange who said he hoped Kirk will “rest in piss.”
Capital One, where Gilkey has worked since October 2023, did not respond to a request for comment. Capital One formed the cyber threat research unit after a hacker released data on the bank’s 100 million customers, a massive data breach that significantly harmed the bank’s reputation. The bank was fined $80 million by the Office of the Comptroller of Currency, and settled a $190 million class action lawsuit with customers affected by the hack.
Martinez mayor Brianne Zorn, who appointed Gilkey to the city commission on May 2, did not respond to a request for comment. Gilkey did not respond to a request for comment.
Several other public figures shared Urquhart’s article, according to a review of Bluesky.
Elliot Forhan, a Democratic candidate for Ohio attorney general, shared Urquhart’s post on Bluesky. Forhan faced blowback earlier this week over his Facebook post stating “Fuck Charlie Kirk” after the assassination. Asked about that post, Forhan told Fox News that “violence is wrong” but defended the post as an expression of anger “over the whitewashing of Kirk’s legacy of bigotry and hate.”
Jason Mittell, a media studies professor at Middlebury College, reposted the Urquhart article on Bluesky. Jess McLaughlin, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Alaska Anchorage, also reposted the story, along with other posts in which she called Kirk a “piece of shit.”
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