This story is about suicide. If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
Governor Andy Beshear called it a “dangerous practice” and signed a Implementing Regulation Wednesday, which bans conversion therapy on minors in Kentucky.
In a speech in Frankfort, Beshear said such attempts to change a young person’s gender expression or sexual orientation have “no medical basis” – a view shared by experts in the fields of medicine and mental health.
Conversion therapy has been condemned by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) and other medical and psychological organizations. AACAP says conversion therapy “lacks scientific credibility and clinical utility” and “there is evidence that such Interventions are harmful.”
According to AACAP, this practice involves “interventions purported to alter a person’s same-sex attraction or gender expression with the specific goal of promoting heterosexuality as a desired outcome.”
The American Psychological Association says that people who have undergone a “change in sexual orientation” much more likely to be depressed and suicidalThe National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 988.
Beshear’s executive order states that neither state nor federal funds may be used “for the conduct of conversion therapy on minors.”
“Today’s action is not forcing an ideology on anyone,” Beshear said. “It is not putting anyone in any danger in a library or school. It is simply ending a so-called ‘therapy’ that the medical community says is wrong and is harmful to our children.”
Beshear’s order comes after Democratic Rep. Lisa Willner of Louisville has repeatedly sponsored bills to eliminate conversion therapy in Kentucky. Each year, her bill has received bipartisan support. Given this, it was always a “mystery” for her why the motion was not accepted, she told the Lantern on Wednesday.
“That’s a question I’ve been asking for six years: Why can’t we get this across the finish line?” she said. “It’s such a discredited practice. It’s caused so much suffering, including suicide, to so many young people in Kentucky. And it has such strong bipartisan support.”
“I am incredibly grateful for the implementing regulation and that there will finally be protective measures,” added Willner.
Catch in 2025?
Beshear’s initiative could face obstacles in the 2025 legislative session.
Rep. Josh Calloway, R-Irvington, wrote on social media He will introduce a bill next year to “stop this governor from enforcing his harmful, radical left-wing agenda against children in need.”
Calloway shared a screenshot of the email the governor’s office sent announcing the executive order and wrote, “Why is @AndyBeshearKY determined to confuse vulnerable children?”
“I will fight this with every fiber of my being,” Calloway wrote. “I am also exploring other legal options to stop these egregious attacks.”
Meanwhile, 12 Republican senators criticized Beshear for the order. They said:“disregards First Amendment rights of freedom of religion and speech and violates the fundamental rights and responsibilities of parents toward their children.”
“The Kentucky Supreme Court has repeatedly told the governor that he does not have the power to make policy in the Commonwealth. Once again, the governor is disregarding the Supreme Court, the General Assembly and the separation of powers doctrine,” these senators said in a statement. “The implementing regulation uses such vague and overly broad wording that health workers are at risk and children are left without the necessary psychiatric care.”
The following twelve Republican senators condemned Beshear’s actions: Senate President Robert Stivers, Manchester; Robby Mills, Henderson; Shelley Funke Frommeyer, Alexandria; Lindsey Tichenor, Smithfield; Whitney Westerfield, Fruit Hill; Gary Boswell, Owensboro; Donald Douglas, Nicholasville; Greg Elkins, Winchester; John Schickel, Union; Philip Wheeler, Pikeville; Majority Whip Mike Wilson, Bowling Green; Max Wise, Republican from Campbellsville.
Willner is “sure there will be efforts” to block the executive order, she told the Lantern.
“I think there are people who deliberately misunderstand what this is about and that this practice traumatizes people for decades, for the rest of their lives, and that it ends lives prematurely,” she said. “And that people misunderstand that is beyond disappointing. I will do everything I can to make sure that any effort to reverse this fails, and I really hope that will be the case.”
Protection “finally”
Mental health advocates in Kentucky praised Beshear’s action.
Sheila Schuster, executive director of the Kentucky Mental Health Coalition, called the practice “torture” and was close to tears as she spoke alongside Beshear in the Capitol Rotunda.
Her coalition has listed ending conversion therapy as one of the legislature’s top priorities for nearly a decade, citing the “harm” the practice causes.
“We may not have been successful in the legislature, but that is not due to a lack of commitment from our heroes,” Schuster said.
Chris Hartman, executive director of the Fairness Campaign, said Beshear’s move will “save countless children’s lives in Kentucky.”
“Today, we all join Governor Beshear in sending a crystal clear message to all queer kids and their families in Kentucky,” Hartman said. “You are perfect just the way you are.”
Eric Russ, 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 fail to change their sexual orientation, but also experience worse mental health outcomes, including self-blame, guilt, shame, anxiety and depression,” Russ said. “We know that the best thing we can do as mental health providers is to affirm the identities of the children in our care. When a child comes to the office of a licensed mental health professional with their family, we have an ethical obligation to provide them with supportive, evidence-based, sexual orientation-affirming treatment.”
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