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Do Chuck Morse and Kevin Smith Stand By Their Records of Supporting Conversion Therapy?
The extreme, anti-LGBTQ records of NH GOP Senate candidates Chuck Morse and Kevin Smith are in the spotlight again this week after New Hampshire Republicans introduced a new bill that would repeal the state’s ban on conversion therapy, which Governor Sununu signed into law in 2018. Both Morse and Smith have supported conversion therapy for years — which is a “discredited practice focused on changing an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity” and has been proven to put “gay teens at higher risk of dying by suicide,” — and they have fought to keep the dangerous practice legal in New Hampshire. From 2016 to 2018, Chuck Morse voted four times to oppose a bipartisan ban on the use of conversion therapy on minors. Morse even broke from the majority of Senate Republicans as one of only four State Senators to vote against the bipartisan bill that Governor Chris Sununu ultimately signed into law. Smith’s record is just as appalling. When Smith served as the Executive Director of the right wing lobby group Cornerstone, the organization promoted conversion therapy groups in New Hampshire, despite its well-documented dangers to children. The organization also strongly opposed the 2018 bipartisan ban on conversion therapy. At Cornerstone, Smith “led the fight against same-sex marriage in New Hampshire” and dismissed being gay as a “lifestyle choice.” So far, neither Morse nor Smith have said whether or not they support this new bill. Granite Staters deserve to know if Chuck Morse and Kevin Smith stand by their records of supporting conversion therapy and if they will support this bill to repeal the state’s ban on the dangerous and harmful practice.