Democracy Dies in Darkness

Gays can be reformed, just like arsonists, Trump’s new domestic policy adviser has said

(Ritchie B. Tongo/European Pressphoto Agency)
Analysis by

Ken Blackwell, tapped last week by President-elect Donald Trump to head domestic policy during the businessman's transition to the White House, has made anti-LGBT statements for years. Among them: Homosexuality is a sin, and gay people, just like petty thieves and fire-setters, can be rehabilitated.

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The Ohio politician has long endorsed a controversial mental health practice known as conversion therapy or reparative therapy. The goal is to cure a person of his or her homosexuality, and in the case of transgender people, to reaffirm the gender into which they were born.

  • Amy Ellis Nutt covered neuroscience and mental health for The Washington Post. She left The Post in January 2019. @amyellisnutt
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