Poll: Majority of Kentuckians support banning conversion therapy
A new poll says 57 percent of Kentuckians support banning conversion therapy for people under 18-years-old — a discredited practice that attempts to change people’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
The survey of 810 people — commissioned by Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky and conducted online through Change Research between January 5 and January 7 — also found that 74 percent of Kentuckians opposed sending someone who was lesbian, gay or bisexual to therapy in order to turn them straight. It did not ask where Kentuckians stood on gender orientation.
Ninety-four percent of respondents said they personally knew someone who was gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.
The poll is part of a larger push to ban “conversion therapy” in Kentucky, a movement that has been slowly building support in the Kentucky Capitol and across the country. Critics of the practice — which is opposed by the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics — say it can lead to withdrawal, anxiety, depression and suicide.
“No credible evidence exists that any mental health intervention can reliably and safely change sexual orientation; nor, from a mental health perspective does sexual orientation need to be changed,” the American Psychiatric Association said in a 2018 statement.
At least 10 percent of LGBTQ youth reported undergoing conversion therapy, according to the Trevor Project’s 2020 national survey on the mental health of LGBTQ youth. Among that group, 78 percent reported it occurred when they were under the age of 18.
Last year, a bill to ban using the practice on minors in Kentucky picked up its first Republican sponsor, Sen. Alice Forgy Kerr of Lexington, who said she wanted to sponsor the bill after watching the movie “Boy Erased.” While having a Republican sponsor improved its chances of passing, the bill ultimately failed to get a vote in committee. Republican leaders in the House and Senate last year told reporters they needed more information before the session was overtaken by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kerr sponsored the bill again this year with Senate Minority Leader Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville, as a co-sponsor.
Supporters of the ban have taken to calling the practice “conversion torture” in Frankfort. Often, the “therapy” involves pseudoscience, like telling gay teenagers they need to adopt more masculine traits, they need to stop associating with anyone who is supportive of gay rights or they need to “rewire” their brain by masturbating to female pornography.
Many of the largest conversion therapy groups in the country have closed in recent years and many conversion therapy leaders have denounced the “ex-gay movement” or come out as LGBTQ.
Opponents of the legislation site free speech and the right of parents to decide what is best for their children. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta blocked the enforcement of Florida ordinances banning conversion therapy earlier this year, citing free-speech issues, according to the Associated Press.
The Kentucky poll asked respondents if they agreed that “Conservative Christian parents should be able to make treatment decisions for their children based on their beliefs and values, just like everyone else, including treatment to change their child’s sexual orientation.”
A minority of respondents agreed, with 17 percent saying they strongly agreed and 15 percent saying they somewhat agreed.
A conversion therapy ban’s biggest hurdle will likely be the political implications. Kentucky has a long history of using LGBTQ rights as a wedge issue in elections, potentially causing reluctance for lawmakers, particularly in rural areas, to cast a vote that appears LGBTQ-friendly.
The poll found that only 19 percent of respondents said if their lawmaker voted to ban conversion therapy they would be less likely to vote for them again, while 52 percent said they would be more likely to support a lawmaker who voted to ban conversion therapy.
There has never been a vote on a bill to ban conversion therapy in the Kentucky General Assembly.
