Meet the ‘transvestigators’

This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on November 20, 2025.

Erika Kirk has been no stranger to online scrutiny in the months since her husband, Charlie, was murdered. When she appeared on “The Charlie Kirk Show” just five days after his memorial service, many people were surprised at how bright and bubbly she seemed. Her demeanor even caught the eye of professional body language analysts.

The attention continued in the weeks following, especially when she hugged U.S. Vice President JD Vance, lifting her shoulders up into his chest and placing her hand on the back of his head. She’s been accused of dabbing tearless eyes. And many people were weirded out when she talked about kissing Charlie’s corpse before it was cleaned up and mentioned the smirk on his lifeless face.

Erika Kirk as Miss Arizona (Wikipedia)

Many conservatives will say people should give a grieving widow the space to lament her husband’s tragic death in whatever way she feels best. And at a human level, there’s truth in that.

But what’s going on here is more than simply a human story. The Trump administration has been using Erika Kirk to promote their violence-laden agenda that is harming our neighbors. And she is not an innocent bystander. She’s fueling a lot of it by participating in political rallies, angrily talking about what “they” did to her husband in a politically loaded way without any nuance, and suggesting her husband’s death should strengthen the violent agenda of the Trump administration.

So it’s understandable that many on the left would watch closely and comment on her words and demeanor. They don’t want the unjust death of her husband to fuel even more unjust violence against others.

But in the months that followed, the people who were condemning Erika Kirk for the way she presents herself weren’t simply liberals out to get a conservative woman or liberals concerned about their neighbors. They were conservatives who were terrified of their neighbors, specifically their transgender neighbors.

So they began promoting a conspiracy theory that Erika Kirk is transgender.

Continue reading at Baptist News Global.