Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear issued an executive order Wednesday that bans “conversion therapy” for minors, but did not include a prohibition against sex change treatments.
The order states that it would be illegal to use state or federal funding in providing conversion therapy for minors, and would give licensing boards the ability to take action on licensees if they are caught performing conversion therapy on a minor. Beshear vetoed a bill banning sex changes for minors in 2023 that was eventually overridden by the state Legislature.
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“Kentucky cannot possibly reach its full potential unless it is free from discrimination by or against any citizen – unless all our people feel welcome in our spaces, free from unjust barriers and supported to be themselves,” Beshear said in a press release. “Conversion therapy has no basis in medicine or science, and it can cause significant long-term harm to our kids, including increased rates of suicide and depression. This is about protecting our youth from an inhumane practice that hurts them.
Conversion therapy is the practice of clinically trying to stop individuals from being attracted to someone of the same sex and changing an individual’s “sexual orientation” or “gender identity,” the order states. The city of Louisville had banned the practice in 2020, but Beshear’s order covers the whole state, according to Missouri-based outlet KFVS 12.
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The order states that the United States’ leading mental health and medical organizations are against conversion therapy. Some experts have claimed that laws banning conversion therapy keep therapists from helping individuals understand their biological sex.
“Ultimately, this is about muzzling Christian counselors and even pastors from helping children struggling with sexual orientation or gender identity issues,” David Walls, executive director of the Family Foundation, a Christian conservative organization, told the Lexington Herald Leader. “We continue to believe that parents and their children should be free to seek counseling that they desire to seek, including faith based counseling.”
While the order bans conversion therapy, it also still allows for minors to undergo a sex change “practice, treatment or intervention.”
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Kentucky law states that “children are the Commonwealth’s greatest natural resource and that individuals and their families are the most critical component of a strong society,” according to the order. Beshear argues that the practice of conversion therapy or reparative therapy is harmful to LGBT minors.
“He can’t just issue an executive order and prescribe law,” Chris Wiest, an attorney in northern Kentucky that is suing against the order, told the Lexington Herald Leader. “This is really basic Con Law 101 stuff, and I think the governor knows it, frankly. He’s not stupid, but he gets the headlines and he excites the base.”
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.