The first anniversary of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s shooting death in Orem is “Charlie Kirk Day” in Utah, Gov. Spencer Cox declared Thursday.

Posting the declaration on social media, the Republican governor wrote: “Today, we honor Charlie’s memory by choosing a politics worthy of our country, one where we stand firmly for what we believe and reject violence.”

Kirk was killed in front of an audience of thousands, most of them college students, on Sept. 10, 2025, during a speaking tour stop at Utah Valley University.

Cox said in a news conference that afternoon, “I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination.” In the following days, Cox was thrust into the global spotlight as he led the state’s response to the slaying.

Cox wrote a book, published Tuesday, that in part recounts how he navigated the moments after his security detail interrupted a meeting to notify him of the shooting.

“The eyes of the world were on Utah in the worst possible way,” Cox wrote in the book, “Off Ramp: How to be a Peacemaker in an Age of Contempt.”

The organization Kirk founded, Turning Point USA, was scheduled to hold a memorial event at Utah Valley University on Thursday evening. Cox did not list attending that commemoration on his public schedule, and Turning Point did not list Cox as one of the event’s speakers.

Cox sat on a panel of politicians taking Kirk’s place at a scheduled Utah State University event last year following the podcaster’s death.

When the governor — whose brand of Republicanism is often seen as more moderate than that of Turning Point USA — first spoke, the audience booed.

A Charlie Kirk Day declaration follows Cox earlier this year continuing his move away from acknowledging Utah’s LGBTQ+ community during Pride Month in June, instead dubbing it “Fidelity Month,” social media commenters pointed out.

During an appearance promoting his book on “The Daily Show,” host Jon Stewart asked Cox about that decision. Cox became the first Utah governor to recognize Pride Month in 2021, but started transitioning away from recognizing LGBTQ+ Utahns in 2023.

“The Pride Month thing again got very contentious, and the decision was made a couple years ago,” Cox responded. “But look, celebrate Pride Month. That’s great. Government will stay out of it. You celebrate whatever months you want.”

The often inflammatory Kirk was an evangelical Christian who opposed a number of LGBTQ+ rights, calling members of the community and their allies the “alphabet mafia.”

“Whereas,” Cox’s declaration says, “civic courage is built through everyday acts of service, thoughtful participation in difficult conversations and a willingness to stand for principle while caring for one’s neighbors.”

He continues, “Whereas, moments of tragedy and intense public strain must not be allowed to deepen social division, but instead call us to respond with courage, empathy and a shared sense of purpose.”