Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has taken executive action to ban the use of state funds for “conversion therapy” on minors in Kentucky. It comes after the Republican-led legislature has continually blocked measures to end the practice.
Beshear:
“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. 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.”
As if to anticipate complaints in the culturally-conservative state, Beshear added that “my faith teaches me that all children are children of God.”
“Today’s action does not force an ideology on anybody,” Beshear said. “It does not expose anyone to anything in a library or school. It simply stops a so-called ‘therapy’ that the medical community says is wrong and hurts our children.”
Sarah Ladd from The Kentucky Lantern notes that the way forward for Beshear’s executive order won’t necessarily be smooth.
One Republican state rep says he’s looking into legal options. Other Republicans in the legislature have hammered Beshear’s move as an overreach that “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, the executive director of The Family Foundation said:
“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…. 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.”
“Conversion therapy” is a controversial practice that aims to change a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression towards a preferred end.
The most straightforward example would be: using various psychological therapies (including aversion therapy and cognitive restructuring, to name just a few of the long list of modalities) to try to change the sexual orientation of someone who identifies as homosexual into someone who identifies as heterosexual.
There are both cultural and religious reasons why some parents have sent their children for therapy, although official numbers suggest it’s becoming increasingly rare in the U.S. with some form of restriction for minors in 23 states.
As of 2019, just 57,000 youth (13-17 years old) are estimated to receive exposure to the practice from any source (including religious or spiritual advisors).
However, it’s difficult to judge the true prevalence of the practice.
Time Magazine reported that 1,300 practitioners still offer the therapy; however, they frequently skirt state laws by offering the practice through religious organizations, which can use religious liberty provisions to shelter them from government action.
Mainstream psychology and health organizations strongly oppose conversion therapy, but it’s often defended on religious liberty grounds by religious conservatives and those opposed to the implications of government overreach.
In fact, a YouGov survey from 2024 found 45% of Americans supporting a ban on conversion therapy for transgender youth, with 38% opposing a ban and the rest unsure.
So popular opinion hasn’t crystallized firmly in one direction or the other. It’s hard to get crosstabs on the issue, but opposition to these bans can’t come exclusively from religious conservatives. There just aren’t enough religious conservatives to make up the 58% of Americans who either oppose or are unsure of their opinion on bans.
My hunch is that Americans are genuinely confused by what a “ban” means.
For example, the headline of Beshear’s move is “state-funded,” but read some specifics of the order, and you’ll see that Kentucky licensing boards can potentially interfere on a broader level than implied.
Any state agency that discovers or receives a report that a provider
certified or licensed to practice in Kentucky engages in conversion therapy
efforts with a person under 18 years of age or performs counseling on
conversion therapy as part of his training for any profession licensed under
a professional certification or licensing board within the Commonwealth
of Kentucky shall report that provider to the appropriate professional
certification or licensing board within the Commonwealth for potential
disciplinary action.
And here’s the problem for getting accurate polling on the topic: Each state words its bans differently, so it’s hard for Americans to form an opinion on something whose definition is vague.
Now, beyond Beshear’s personal beliefs on the matter, let’s consider the political implications for him.
As a moderate Democrat, governing a Republican state, you can see why he’d wait until his second term to issue the executive order.
There’s no sense in provoking a cultural fight in a culturally-conservative state in a first term.
But now that he’s thinking at a national level, he’s probably looking to shake the profile of “Moderate Kentucky Governor Runs for Democratic Presidential Nomination” in a party whose nominating base is increasingly liberal.
Thus, what’s the more compelling argument in a national Democratic primary?
a) “I defied a Republican-dominated legislature to ban conversion therapy in Kentucky.”
or
b) “I banned conversion therapy in California.”
The first is clearly the stronger talking point, and now Beshear can lay claim to it in a way that someone like California Gov. Gavin Newsom can’t.
Further, there’s no political downside for Beshear.
If Republicans fight the measure, he can show any potential scars to national Dems in 2028 as proof of his mettle.
And if Republicans don’t, then he can claim political skill by arguing that he’s well-suited at advancing progressive measures in a divided America.
You can read the full executive order here and Beshear’s statement here.
Here’s video, via Forbes, of Beshear’s full speech.
[Photo: Public Domain, attribution: Dale Greer]
