I grew up in a Southern Baptist church in rural West Kentucky. My high school had ‘bring your tractor to school day,’ and my graduating class was less than 150 students. I distinctly remember making a comment to a friend one day as we were walking down the halls of Hopkins County Central about all the camouflage attire blooming like the woodlands in our hallway. “I feel like a deer is about to jump out of a closet,” I joked. Fast forward a few, occasionally uncomfortable, years and it was me jumping out of the closet instead – and there weren’t many rainbows in those woodlands.
I was pleased to see former State Senator Alice Kerr, a Republican, mention the saddening statistics about suicide rates among youth who have faced so-called conversion therapy . I was also intrigued to learn that a key reason Mrs. Kerr disavows Conservative angst towards banning conversion therapy is because she is a mom – to a gay man.
A mother’s love is something special and I certainly feel blessed with the best. Though, the reality is that not every young person growing up in Kentucky – in America – will have a mother like mine or like Mrs. Kerr who loves their children unconditionally.