On this edition of South Carolina Lede, host Gavin Jackson is joined by The Post and Courier Reporters Mary Katherine Wildeman and Michael Majchrowicz to delve into their enlightening story “Taught to Hate Myself." The piece takes an in-depth look at the controversial practice of gay conversion therapy in South Carolina, where it faces no oversight or regulation.

South Carolina Public Radio's own Statehouse reporter Russ McKinney also stops by to quiz Gavin with South Carolina trivia in this week's Did You Know segment.

Two weeks after the president visited their neighborhood in Conway, Bill and Diane Parker sit on a sofa in their front yard, surrounded by furniture.  They’ve just come home for the first time since Hurricane Florence’s flood waters ravaged their Sherwood community, east of downtown.  The damage is worse than they imagined.

“I would lie in bed at night and think about each room,” Diane Parker said.  “What did I leave?  What’s there that is possibly going to be ruined”.

Suicide is on the rise in nearly every state (Nevada is the exception), the 10th leading cause of death both in South Carolina and nationally, and for ages 15-34, the second leading cause of death in both state and nation.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that suicide is up a distressing 38 percent in the Palmetto State.  Though it’s too early to know just why the rate is climbing so high, Helen Pridgen, South Carolina Area Director for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, listed some reasons that might suggest an explanation.  Though most people who die by