Conversion therapy is a controversial practice that seeks to change a person’s gender or sexual orientation. Olivia Kane says she started her Care2 petition as part of a Daphne High School project, but now, her petition has had an impact that reaches far beyond her classroom, with supporters from all over the state -- and the world -- adding their name.
“Around the time that we had to choose topics [for the school project], a transgender teen named Leelah Alcorn had taken her life, and her experiences brought the existence of conversion therapy into the limelight. I identify as bisexual, and many of my friends are queer, so it was a topic that hit close to home,” Kane says. “When I started the project, I had no idea that the issue was nearly as serious and devastating as it truly is. What had started as a school project soon turned into a passion to make a difference.”
Kane says she was moved to action when she saw a WhiteHouse.gov petition asking the administration to enact “Leelah’s Law” banning conversion therapy throughout the nation. The petition gathered enough signatures to warrant a response from the White House.
“The President said he approved of “Leelah’s Law”, which would end conversion therapy for minors, but also said it had to be approved at a state level, so there wasn’t much he could do,” Kane says. “So now my goal is to make that happen in my home state, and hopefully even inspire other states to take action as well.”
Just three states -- California, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia -- have banned the use of conversion therapy on minors. Since 2014, 18 other states have introduced similar legislation -- but not Alabama.
Kane says she is exploring ways to get her Care2 petition into lawmakers’ hands. Her petition targets Governor Robert J. Bentley as well as her representatives, Sen. Richard Shelby, Sen. Jefferson Sessions, and Rep. Bradley Byrne.
“Should this petition make its way into legislation, Alabama’s queer minors will have one less obstacle to face when they decide to come out,” she says.
