We investigate the existence and stability of gap vortices and multipole gap solitons in a kagome lattice with a defocusing nonlinearity both in a discrete case and in a continuum one with periodic external modulation. In particular, predictions are made based on expansion around a simple and analytically tractable anticontinuum (zero-coupling) limit. These predictions are then confirmed for a continuum model of an optically induced kagome lattice in a photorefractive crystal obtained by a continuous transformation of a honeycomb lattice.