Staff report
Gov. Andy Beshear signed an executive order Wednesday to officially ban the practice of conversion therapy on minors.
The governor took the executive order route after the General Assembly declined to pass legislation, including House Bill 330 in the 2024 General Assembly.
“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. “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.”
The practice of “conversion therapy” or “reparative therapy” is particularly harmful to LGBTQ+ youth, many advocates say. The intent of this practice is to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, and methods include aversion therapy, talk therapy, shaming and hypnosis, among other techniques. Conversion therapy rests on the premise that an LGBTQ+ individual’s identity is pathological and can be “repaired” or “fixed.”
According to such organizations as the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians and the American Psychiatric Association, the practice of conversion therapy can cause significant long-term harm to youth, including anxiety, depression, loss of social supports, and suicidal behaviors.
In the 2023 survey by a nonprofit suicide prevention organization the Trevor Project, 15% of LGBTQ+ youth reported being threatened with or subjected to conversion therapy. The same survey showed that youth who were subjected to conversion therapy reported more than twice the rate of suicide attempts in the past year compared with those who were not subjected to it.
The leading medical and mental health organizations in the United States oppose the practice of conversion therapy, including: the American Psychological Association, the American Counseling Association, the Kentucky Psychological Association, the National Association of Social Workers – Kentucky Chapter, the Kentucky Mental Health Coalition, and the Fairness Campaign.
At least 23 states and the District of Columbia prohibit the use of conversion therapy with minors in some way, either through barring its agencies from spending state and federal dollars for conversion therapy with minors, or by making engaging in conversion therapy a prohibited act or unprofessional conduct for licensed practitioners and subjecting them to disciplinary action for violating the prohibition. Some of these states have acted through executive order, but many of them have passed bipartisan legislation to prohibit the harmful practice of conversion therapy.
While most of those who gathered for the executive order signing in the Capitol Rotunda were in favor of Beshear’s decision, several faith leaders and some Republican lawmakers strongly opposed it. A group of 12 Republican legislators, including Sen. Shelley Funke Frommeyer and Sen. John Schickel of NKY, issued a strong statement against the executive order. They said:
“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.
“This executive order disregards the First Amendment rights regarding freedom of religion and speech and violates the fundamental parental rights and responsibilities for their children.
“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.”
David Walls, executive director of the Family Foundation, also fiercely opposed Beshear’s action.
“Governor Beshear’s executive order is an unlawful action that will hurt children, trample the fundamental rights of Kentucky parents, and suppress free religious expression. This order, like previous failed legislative efforts, is designed to promote false LGBTQ ideologies and muzzle Christian counselors, therapists, and pastors from helping children struggling with sexual orientation or gender identity confusion,” he said. “Kentucky parents and their children should be free to seek the faith-based counseling on sexuality and identity issues that they need. The Christian message on sexuality and human dignity is not harmful, it is life-bringing.”
Richard Nelson, executive director of The Commonwealth Policy Center, questioned if so-called conversion therapy was even happening in Kentucky.
“This really isn’t about some kind of abusive practice as much as it’s about the ability of parents to teach their kids moral boundaries and healthy sexual ethics,” he said. “Parents have the right to guide their children on sexual ethics according to their faith tradition. And they have the right to take their children to counselors who support their beliefs. This executive order chills the speech and guidance of biblical counselors who are dedicated to supporting parents and the biblical sexual ethic.”
The executive order makes it illegal to use state or federal funds to provide conversion therapy on minors. It also gives licensing boards the authority to take disciplinary action against licensees found to have practiced conversion therapy on minors.