Liberal residents of Orange County, California, expressed anger after a street was renamed after slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Street signs bearing Kirk’s name appeared in Westminster on the road leading to City Hall this week. Portions of All American Way were redesignated as Charlie Kirk Way after the City Council approved the idea last fall.
Kirk, a free speech advocate and founder of Turning Point USA, was killed while speaking at Utah Valley University during a TPUSA campus tour in September 2025.
The name change left some Southern California locals fuming, according to Los Angeles news outlet ABC7.
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“I think that’s so hateful,” Los Angeles resident Ashley Lawrence said in the report.
“I thought it was a joke,” said Ann Galvan from Garden Grove.
“Are you effing kidding me? Sorry, that was my gut reaction,” Westminster resident Terry Rains also said.
Rains organized a protest in December to try to stop the street-renaming effort. She said the street’s name, All American Way, is already “inclusive” and welcoming.
She held signs for ABC7 that depicted photos of the city council members that said, “Vote them Out.” She also held up another sign that said, “No Kirk Way! No Kirk Day! Hands Off A.A.W!”
“These are all public buildings, and so tainting the name just completely denigrates the entire … what that stands for,” Rains said.
Westminster Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen, a Republican who fled communism in Vietnam in the 1970s, said renaming the street was his idea.
“By doing this, we promote the freedom. The freedom of speech, freedom for everyone to engage in open communication here in the City of Westminster,” Nguyen said.
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The City Council approved the measure in a 4-1 vote in November 2025. The council also voted to designate Kirk’s birthday, Oct. 14, Charlie Kirk Day.
“I myself am very inspired by what Charlie Kirk has been doing for the country, what he’s been doing to the younger people, for the next generation,” Nguyen added.
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Reacting to the complaints, he said, “You can’t please everyone.”
The mayor defended the signs in comments to ABC7, saying they are not meant to be political but are intended to celebrate freedom of speech.
“I’m not saying that Charlie Kirk is a Republican or Democrat. I don’t take it that way,” he told the outlet. “I look at the way that he is dedicated. He is sacrificing to do what needs to be done for our country, and he is a patriot. Those are the things that I look at.”
According to ABC7, the city council said the street redesignation does not officially change the street name or addresses and instead applies to the physical street signs between Westminster Boulevard and 13th Street.
Mayor Nguyen’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
