Gov. Ned Lamont’s decision to order flags flown at half-staff in honor of Charlie Kirk is not only baffling —it is a disgrace.

In bestowing one of our state’s most solemn honors on a man whose public life was defined by cruelty, bigotry, and division, Lamont has insulted vast numbers of his own constituents—particularly people of color, women, LGBTQ+ folks, and immigrants—whom Kirk worked tirelessly to marginalize and silence.

Let’s be clear: flying the flag at half-staff is not a trivial gesture. It is a civic ritual meant to honor individuals who have served their country or community with distinction, who have elevated public life, who have helped us move closer to our ideals. It is a symbol of collective mourning for someone we believe made us better.

Charlie Kirk did the opposite. He built a career by inflaming our divisions, trafficking in racist and misogynistic rhetoric, and mocking the very people Connecticut claims to protect. As the founder of Turning Point USA, he led a campaign to harass educators, undermine public institutions, and spread conspiracy theories that corrode democratic trust. He did not serve this nation—he desecrated its promise.

While Lamont referenced President Trump’s proclamation that federal buildings fly flags at half staff in his order to do the same at state buildings, Trump’s proclamation is in no way binding on the state of Connecticut. At least two states, including near neighbors New York and New Jersey, appeared to be flying at full staff on Friday. Others simply extended, without comment, their order to lower flags in honor of the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Others mentioned “victims of political violence,” including Mellisa Hortman, the Minnesota lawmaker assassinated earlier this year. Lamont’s appears to be a deliberate decision to join Trump in honoring a person at odds with the values of the majority of the people of Connecticut, with no connection to the state.

There is no shortage of community heroes in Connecticut who have spent their lives in service who never received such a gesture. Even just under Lamont’s tenure, we have lost so many organizers, advocates, legislators, and others who all worked toward building solidarity and improving the lives of the people around them, and they were denied the honor that Lamont is now bestowing on a professional bigot.

Connecticut dignitaries like Martin Luther King Jr. associates Thirman L. Milner and Rev. Robert W. Perry, labor organizer and Connecticut House Minority Leader David Puldin, Common Cause president Karen Hobert Flynn, senior and care workers’ advocate and State Senator Edith Prague, and more have all died in the last several years with no such state honors.

Yet a man who compared the LGBTQ+ community to “a threat to civilization,” who cheered the rollback of women’s rights, who planned a dedicated campaign to chip away at the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., and who applauded political violence now receives state-sanctioned mourning? Why does Kirk, a provocateur with no ties to our state and a legacy of division, deserve more?

Even if Governor Lamont intended this as a gesture of political neutrality, he cannot hide behind decorum when the symbolism is so profoundly wrong. Neutrality in the face of hate is complicity. Mourning Charlie Kirk as a public servant worthy of reverence sends a clear message: that the pain he inflicted is less important than the political convenience of honoring a well-connected figure on the national stage.

This isn’t about partisan politics. It’s about values. It’s about deciding who we lift up, and who we mourn. Should Charlie Kirk have been murdered? No. Should we pretend that he was anything more than the shit-stirrer that he was? Also no.

Honoring a man like Charlie Kirk with a public display of reverence is a deep betrayal of the communities he harmed —and a troubling sign of whose pain matters to this administration.

Governor Lamont must answer for this choice. And Connecticut residents should demand that our symbols of honor reflect the best of who we are —not the worst of what we’ve allowed.

Steve Kennedy is an organizer and attorney in Newtown.