Gov. Andy Beshear called conversion therapy “torture on our kids” over the weekend after vetoing legislation that would overturn his recent executive order to ban the practice in Kentucky. The Republican-controlled General Assembly passed House Bill 495 earlier this month, with GOP lawmakers calling it a matter of “parental rights” and free speech.
“No one should ever want to have to subject a kid to something like that,” Beshear said. “To everybody out there, you’re perfect just the way you are.”
The legislature will have the opportunity to override Beshear’s veto in the final two days of the session Thursday and Friday. As the bill originally passed overwhelmingly in both chambers on largely party lines, such an override appears likely.
HB 495 went through numerous iterations in the legislature. The bill, which initially extended explicit protections to conversion therapy practitioners, shifted on the House floor to solely overrule Beshear’s executive order. Then, in the Senate, it took on a new provision that would ban Medicaid from covering gender-affirming procedures for transgender individuals, including hormone replacement therapies.
The added provision sparked additional outrage from LGBTQ+ advocates and Democrats, who said the sudden ban could leave transgender individuals currently on Medicaid facing a precipitous drop-off in medication. The bill has an emergency clause, meaning it would go into effect immediately if the General Assembly chooses to override Beshear’s veto.
GOP lawmakers said that Medicaid does not currently cover such gender-affirming services, but Democratic Rep. Lisa Willner of Louisville said on the House floor she knows that at least some transgender Kentuckians are receiving gender-affirming hormone therapies through Medicaid.
Beshear’s executive order from last year, which HB 495 attempts to undo, prohibits the use of state or federal dollars directly or indirectly to pay for conversion therapy. It encourages independent medical licensure boards to reconsider licenses or punish professionals engaging in conversion therapy. The order also requires all state agencies to report providers who they discover to be engaging in conversion therapy to those licensing boards.
Conversion therapy refers to treatments that seek to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Treatment is often based on religious ideologies that perceive LGBTQ+ orientations as unnatural. Most major medical organizations say conversion therapy is linked to increased depression and anxiety, which can lead to a heightened risk of suicide. The American Psychiatric Association said in a policy document last year that “leading professional health care bodies have concluded that conversion therapies lack efficacy and may carry significant risks of harm.”
In his veto message, Beshear called the bill an “infringement” on his constitutionally-granted authority — mimicking GOP legislator complaints after the governor first signed the executive order. At the time, more than a dozen state senators, including Senate President Robert Stivers of Manchester, condemned the order, saying it ignores the separation of powers by encroaching on the legislature's authority.
Beshear said HB 495 “promotes a dangerous and discriminatory practice that has led to the death of Kentucky children.”
“As leaders and policymakers, we should be in the business of protecting our citizens and kids from harm, not subjecting them to discredited methods that jeopardize their health, wellbeing, and safety,” Beshear wrote in his veto message.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
