Conversion therapy aims to change an LGBT person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Now the controversial practice is being regulated in many states.
A Supreme Court ruling sanctioning same-sex marriage in 2015 was hailed as a milestone moment that would see discrimination crumble and equality triumph for LGBT couples — and for their children.
But in the past three years, those parents and kids have faced a brewing backlash that threatens everything from health benefits to a couple’s ability to adopt.
Two states — Kansas and Oklahoma — passed legislation in recent weeks that allows state-licensed child welfare agencies to cite religious beliefs for not placing children in LGBT homes, a troubling trend for LGBT advocates.
“We have to acknowledge that marriage equality was a huge victory for security and stability” for LGBT families, said Naomi Goldberg, policy director for the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), which released a report Monday documenting ways the 2015 ruling is being undercut and the consequences for kids. “But the landscape remains uncertain. Families have to think about ways they may or may not be recognized: when they travel, go to the doctor, go to a restaurant.”
Goldberg points to a Gallup survey released two weeks ago that shows more than two-thirds of Americans now back same-sex marriage — the highest level Gallup has recorded in the more than 20 years it has been surveying Americans on the issue.
In many families and communities, support for LGBT families flourishes, but “the gap is with legislators,” she said.
The report by MAP, a think tank that researches and analyzes laws with LGBT implications, and co-authored by the Family Equality Council, which has been working with LGBT-headed families for nearly 40 years, cites a refusal to recognize LGBT families by some government officials, state legislators and even courts.
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