Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has banned conversion therapy on minors in an executive order signed on Wednesday. For years, advocates for the ban have argued that it poses a danger to LGBTQ+ youth, while defenders often cite religion and the First Amendment as justification for the practice.
Conversion therapy is a practice in which minors are sent to camps by their parents to change their sexual orientation or gender identity.
“My faith teaches me that all children are children of God,” Beshear said, the AP News reported. “And where practices are endangering and even harming those children, we must act. The practice of so-called ‘conversion therapy’ hurts our children.”
Beshear’s executive order also makes it illegal for state or federal funds to be used for conversion therapy on minors. Furthermore, professionals who have practiced conversion therapy on minors will be disciplined.
“Such practices have been rejected by every mainstream medical and mental health organization for decades, but due to continuing discrimination and societal bias against LGBTQ+ people, some practitioners continue to conduct conversion therapy,” the Human Rights Campaign notes. “Minors are especially vulnerable, and conversion therapy can lead to depression, anxiety, drug use, homelessness, and suicide.”
A study published by The American Journal of Public Health found that LGBTQ+ youth who experienced conversion therapy are “more than twice as likely to report having attempted suicide and having multiple suicide attempts.”
In Kentucky, 21% of LGBTQ+ youth say they were threatened with or subjected to conversion therapy, according to the Trevor Project.
“I can speak firsthand to how devastating it can be to someone’s mental health,” Zach Meiners, a 34-year-old who attended the signing ceremony and underwent conversion therapy, said, per the AP. “And I consider myself very lucky to be a survivor.”
The Family Foundation, a conservative group based in Kentucky, criticized the executive order, saying it impedes religious expression and the rights of parents.
“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,” David Walls, the executive director of the Family Foundation, said in a statement, according to the AP.
Beshear said the order “does not force an ideology on anybody” but “simply stops a so-called ‘therapy’ that the medical community says is wrong and hurts our children.”
“It is not about politics at all,” he added. “And to me, it’s not even about gender or sexuality. It’s about protecting our youth from an inhumane practice that hurts them.”
