Univ. Of Kentucky Asks Gay Students If They Want To Be Straight

Email Survey Asks Straight Students If Being Gay Is ‘A Mental Illness’

An email survey reportedly sent to all University of Kentucky students is garnering some unintended attention. The survey, first reported by a conservative college news site, Campus Reform, and then by the LGBT news site Back2Stonewall, asks different questions of self-identified LGBT and straight students, including asking if homosexuality is a “mental illness.”

“Students who identified as LGBT early on in the survey were presented with a unique list of statements to agree or disagree with, including ‘If it were possible, I would choose to be straight,'” Kaitlyn Schallhorn at Campus Reform reports.

Students who claimed to be heterosexual were presented with a different set of statements, including “Homosexuality is a sin,” “Male homosexuality is a perversion,” and “Homosexuality is a mental illness.”

A University spokesperson told Campus Reform that the “intent of the survey was to understand better the utilization of university health services on the part LGBT students.”

The survey, sent from the University of Kentucky’s Health Service apparently offers respondents little to no privacy guarantee as the emails include personally identifying URLs, one student told Campus Reform.

An examination of the University of Kentucky’s Health Service very active Twitter and Facebook pages does not reveal the email survey, although Campus Reform reports that respondents were entered into a drawing to win a $5 gift card.

 
Image by Campus Reform, used with permission