Beshear signs order banning conversion therapy on Kentucky minors

This story mentions suicide. If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988. 

Calling it a “dangerous practice,” Gov. Andy Beshear signed an executive order Wednesday that bans conversion therapy on minors in Kentucky. 

Speaking in Frankfort, Beshear said such attempts to alter a young person’s gender expression or sexual attractions have “no basis in medicine”  — a view supported by experts in medicine and mental health.

Conversion therapy has been condemned by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), among other medical and psychological organizations. AACAP says conversion therapies “lack scientific credibility and clinical utility” and “there is evidence that such interventions are harmful.” 

The practice involves “interventions purported to alter same-sex attractions or an individual’s gender expression with the specific aim to promote heterosexuality as a preferable outcome” according to the AACAP. 

The American Psychological Association says that people who have undergone “sexual orientation change efforts” are much more likely to be depressed and suicidal. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 988. 

Beshear’s executive order states that neither state or federal dollars can be used “for the practice of conversion therapy on minors.” 

“Today’s action does not force an ideology on anybody,” Beshear said. “It does not expose anyone to anything in a library or school. It simply stops a so-called ‘therapy’ that the medical community says is wrong and hurts our children.”

Beshear’s order comes after Rep. Lisa Willner, D-Louisville, has repeatedly sponsored legislation to ban conversion therapy in Kentucky. Each year, her bill has had bipartisan support. Given that, it’s always been a “mystery” to her why it didn’t pass, she told the Lantern Wednesday. 

“That’s a question I’ve asked myself for six years: Why can’t we get this across the finish line?” she said. “It’s such a discredited practice. It has caused such harm to so many young Kentuckians, including suicide. And it has had such strong bipartisan support.”  

“I’m incredibly grateful for the executive order, and that, at long last, there will be protections in place,” Willner added. 

Snags in 2025? 

Beshear’s move could hit snags in the 2025 legislative session. 

Rep. Josh Calloway, R-Irvington, wrote on social media that he would file legislation next year to “stop this governor from pushing his harmful far-left agenda on struggling kids.” 

Calloway shared a screenshot of the email the governor’s office sent to announce the executive order and wrote, “why is @AndyBeshearKY determined to keep vulnerable children confused?”

“I will fight this with every fiber of my being,” Calloway wrote. “I am also exploring other legal options to stop egregious overreach.”  

Meanwhile, 12 Republican Senators slammed Beshear for the order, which they said “disregards the First Amendment rights regarding freedom of religion and speech and violates the fundamental parental rights and responsibilities for their children.” 

“Time and again, the Kentucky Supreme Court has told the governor he lacks the power to create policy in the Commonwealth. Yet again, the governor is defying the Supreme Court, the General Assembly, and the doctrine of separation of powers,” those senators said in a statement. “The executive order uses such vague and overbroad language that health care providers are at risk, and children will be left without needed mental health care.”

Those senators are:

1. Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester
2. Sen. Robby Mills, R-Henderson
3. Sen. Shelley Funke Frommeyer, R-Alexandria
4. Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield
5. Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Fruit Hill
6. Sen. Gary Boswell, R-Owensboro
7. Sen. Donald Douglas, R-Nicholasville
8. Sen. Greg Elkins, R-Winchester
9. Sen. John Schickel, R-Union
10. Sen. Phillip Wheeler, R-Pikeville
11. Senate Majority Whip Mike Wilson, R-Bowling Green
12. Sen. Max Wise, R-Campbellsville

Willner is “sure there will be efforts” to block the executive order, she told the Lantern.  

“There are people who, I think, willfully misunderstand what this is about, and that this is a practice that traumatizes people for decades, for the rest of their lives, and that ends lives prematurely,” she said.

“And for people to misunderstand this is beyond disappointing. I will do everything I can to make sure that any efforts to turn this back will fail, and I really hope that they will.” 

Protections ‘at long last’ 

Advocates for mental health in Kentucky praised Beshear’s action.

Sheila Schuster, the executive director of the Kentucky Mental Health Coalition, called the practice “torture” and teared up as she spoke alongside Beshear in the Capitol Rotunda. 

Her coalition has listed ending conversion therapy as a top priority for the legislature for nearly a decade, citing the “harm” the practice causes.

“While we have not been successful in the legislature, it’s not for lack of effort from our heroines and heroes,” Schuster said.

Chris Hartman, executive director of the Fairness Campaign, said Beshear would “save countless Kentucky kids’ lives” with the move.

“Today, we all join Governor Beshear to send a crystal clear message to all of Kentucky’s queer kids and their families,” Hartman said. “You are perfect as you are.”

Eric Russ, the executive director of the Kentucky Psychological Association, called conversion therapy a discredited practice that “has no place in the mental health care of LGBTQ youth.” 

“We know that survivors of conversion therapy not only do not change their sexual orientation, but have worse mental health outcomes, including self blame, guilt, shame, anxiety, depression,” Russ said. “We know the best thing we can do as mental health providers is to affirm the identity of the kids in our care. When a kid walks into a licensed mental health professional’s office with their family, we have an ethical obligation to provide them care that is supportive, evidence based and affirming to their sexual orientation identity.” 

This story was originally published by the Kentucky Lantern