Kentucky is the latest state to take action on conversion therapy bans, though it may not last long.
Why It Matters
On Saturday, March 22, Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear vetoed legislation approved earlier this month within the State Legislature by the Republican majority that would have upended his own similar executive order from 2024.
His 2024 order, which Republicans are attempting to undo, prohibits the use of state or federal dollars directly or indirectly to pay for conversion therapy.
Also, it requires all agencies inside Kentucky to report medical providers engaging in conversion therapy to licensing boards for potential reconsideration of licenses or other forms of punishment.
Language contained within the approved House Bill 495, sponsored this year by Republican State Representative David Hale, stipulated that Medicaid funds cannot be expended on:
- “Cross-sex hormones in amounts greater than would normally be produced endogenously in a healthy person of the same age and sex.”
- “Gender reassignment surgery to alter or remove physical or anatomical characteristics or features that are typical for and characteristics of a person’s biological sex.”
Legislation also prohibited discrimination against mental health professionals, mental healthcare institutions, and ordained ministry for providing protected counseling services.
The bill passed by a 77-18 vote in the Kentucky House of Representatives, with five lawmakers abstaining.
Beshear, in a video uploaded to X, said he signed the executive order banning conversion therapy because it’s “torture.”
“No one should ever have to subject a kid to something like that,” Beshear said.
What to Know
Conversion therapy laws prohibit state-licensed mental health practitioners from subjecting LGBTQ+ minors to what opponents like the Movement Advancement Project describe as “a set of harmful, dangerous, and discredited practices that attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.”
The organization said that as of September 2024, a total of 23 states plus the District of Columbia have banned such therapy for minors. Another five states (Arizona, Kentucky, North Carolina, North Dakota and Wisconsin) and one territory (Puerto Rico) partially banned it.
The red-colored states below show where conversion therapy remains legal.
The U.S. Supreme Court previously declined to hear a challenge to laws that ban conversion therapy, which irked Justice Clarence Thomas. However, a new case may lead to long-term implications.
Kaley Chiles, a young counselor in Colorado, is challenging a state law that prohibits therapists from counseling gay minors away from homosexuality.
Her lawsuit argues that the state’s introduction of a counseling restriction in 2019 “prohibited certain conversations between a counselor and her clients underage 18, condemning (and mislabeling) these conversations as ‘conversion therapy.’”
Current Colorado law bans “any practice or treatment … that attempts or purports to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity” or tries to “eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.”
Joanna Schwartz, a marketing professor at Georgia College & State University who also studies LGBTQ+ issues, told Newsweek that it’s no surprise Beshear upheld opinions shared by almost every mainstream medical and mental health organization regarding conversion therapy.
“It’s not only been shown to increase levels of depression and even suicide, [but] it doesn’t accomplish its stated goal of changing peoples’ sexual orientation or gender identity,” Schwartz said. “It’s basically torture. But it has gained support, particularly in Republican states, because it is positioned as an act of religious freedom.
“So, Republican legislators have been passing bills protecting practitioners’ rights to perform that ‘treatment’ and parents’ rights to subject their children to it, and democratic legislators have been banning conversion therapy. In a state like Kentucky, the conservative legislature passed that so it’s a natural response for the Democratic governor to reject that.”
It’s a “classic example” of red states moving to legalize and perform such therapy as religious expression while blue states and municipalities are working to ban it as an ineffective and dangerous quasi-medical procedure, she added.
What People Are Saying
Republican Kentucky Senator Robby Mills of District 4 on X: “Gov. Beshear can post all the videos he wants and lecture the legislature on how virtuous his leftist positions are, but when Thursday and Friday comes the Republican supermajority will override each and every one of his vetoes!”
What Happens Next
With the Republican supermajority in the Legislature, Beshear’s veto could still theoretically be overturned as some conservative lawmakers like Mills have already promised.
The case involving Chiles in Colorado could lead to oral arguments this fall, but likely no decision until 2026 at a minimum.
The post Map Shows States Where Conversion Therapy Is Legal as Kentucky May Lift Ban appeared first on Newsweek.
