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Fact check: What Bible verse did Charlie Kirk reference about homosexuality?
Executive Summary
Charlie Kirk referenced Old Testament law on a June 2024 podcast episode and characterized it as “God’s perfect law when it comes to sexual matters,” a remark widely reported as citing passages that prescribe death for male homosexual acts. Reporting and follow-ups identify the likely source passages as Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13, but contemporaneous accounts note that some initial stories did not specify the exact verse; others say Kirk quoted wording similar to the Levitical sanctions [1] [2]. Coverage of the episode prompted public pushback and clarifications from commentators who both criticized and defended his textual framing [3] [4] [2].
1. How the Claim First Spread and What Kirk Actually Said That Sparked It
Multiple contemporary summaries agree that Kirk’s comments came during a June 2024 podcast exchange in which he cited an Old Testament law against male same-sex relations and described that law as “God’s perfect law” for sexual matters, language that prompted headlines alleging he advocated stoning gay people [1]. Some reports emphasize that his phrasing echoed Leviticus’ stoning prescriptions, while other accounts note that the original coverage did not always identify the exact verse Kirk referenced; this gap allowed outlets and critics to infer Leviticus passages commonly used in debates about homosexuality [1]. The initial controversy intensified because the Levitical laws are among the most explicit biblical texts historically cited in debates over sexual morality, so even a paraphrase or summary of them carries a particular rhetorical force in public discourse [1].
2. Which Verses Reporters Say He Meant—and Why Those Verses Matter
Follow-up reporting identifies Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13 as the likely verses Kirk invoked; Leviticus 20:13 explicitly prescribes capital punishment for a man lying with another man “as with a woman,” while Leviticus 18:22 forbids the act without specifying a penalty in the same clause, though chapter context includes prohibitions with penalties elsewhere [2]. Multiple outlets and commentators point to those chapters as the “clobber passages” conservatives and critics alike frequently cite in public arguments; the passages’ legalistic language explains why Kirk’s use of the term “perfect law” was reported as endorsing a strict, punitive reading [2]. The identification of these verses frames subsequent interpretive disputes, because the meaning and applicability of Levitical law are contested across religious and scholarly communities.
3. Voices Saying the Passage Is Misread and How They Reframe the Text
Religious commentators cited in the reporting argue that the traditional reading of these verses as blanket condemnations of consensual same-sex relationships is historically and contextually contested. Pastors and scholars referenced in the follow-up coverage say Leviticus’ prohibitions more plausibly target behaviors such as pederasty, incest, ritual impurity, or exploitation rather than modern understandings of consensual same-sex relationships; this reframing was offered to counter the notion that the Levitical prescriptions straightforwardly endorse capital punishment for LGBT people today [2]. Those defenders of contextualized readings insist that contemporary application requires attention to cultural, historical, and genre differences between Israelite law codes and modern moral theology, and they used the Kirk episode to argue against literalistic extractions of Old Testament penalties [2].
4. Pushback, Corrections, and Public Reactions Documented After the Episode
The episode and ensuing headlines produced notable responses, including public figures who initially amplified the stoning claim and later walked back or clarified their statements after seeing the podcast exchange; one high-profile example involved a commentator who apologized after alleging Kirk had explicitly called for stoning, and subsequent reporting emphasized that Kirk’s remarks functioned as a demonstration of how people cherry-pick scripture rather than a novel legal proposal [3] [4]. Media follow-ups varied: some outlets kept the focus on the apparent moral endorsement of punitive scripture, while others highlighted debates over citation accuracy and interpretive nuance, illustrating how coverage can oscillate between reporting what was said and debating how to interpret ancient law in modern contexts [3] [4].
5. What the Records Leave Unresolved and Why It Matters Going Forward
Available accounts converge that Kirk invoked Old Testament prohibitions and described them as normative for sexual behavior, but they do not produce a verbatim citation linking him unequivocally to a single verse in every report; some pieces explicitly name Leviticus 18:22/20:13, while others note the verse was not precisely specified in initial coverage, leaving room for interpretive disagreement and selective emphasis [1] [2]. That ambiguity matters because public debates over religious texts hinge on precise wording and context, and because amplification choices—whether to quote verbatim, to name a verse, or to summarize—shape how readers understand whether a speaker advocates violence, is making a theological claim, or is illustrating how scripture gets used politically. The reporting thus documents both a concrete citation pattern and persistent interpretive disputes [2] [1].