Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear signed an executive order banning the use of conversion therapy on LGBTQ+ minors, becoming the latest governor to act against a practice that major medical organizations have repeatedly condemned as harmful to young people’s mental health. The order takes effect immediately and applies to licensed mental health professionals across the state.
At a glance
- Conversion therapy ban: The executive order prohibits licensed professionals from using conversion therapy on minors, bars the use of state or federal funds for the practice, and authorizes licensing boards to discipline providers who violate it.
- LGBTQ+ youth mental health: According to the Trevor Project, 21% of LGBTQ+ young people in Kentucky reported being threatened with or subjected to conversion therapy — a rate that underscores the urgency advocates cited in pushing for the ban.
- Medical consensus: The American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and other leading health bodies oppose conversion therapy, citing research linking it to increased risk of suicide, depression, and anxiety.
Beshear acted after repeated attempts to pass a legislative ban were blocked by the Republican-controlled state legislature. Rather than wait for lawmakers to act, the governor used his executive authority to put the order into effect now, while continuing to call on the legislature to enshrine the ban in state law.
What the order does
The ban prohibits licensed counselors, therapists, and other mental health professionals from practicing conversion therapy on anyone under 18. It also blocks state and federal funding from being used to provide the therapy to minors — a financial provision that adds teeth to the prohibition. Licensing boards are authorized to take disciplinary action against any professional found to have violated the order.
Beshear was careful to frame the action in narrow, protective terms. “This does not force an ideology on anybody,” he said at the signing ceremony at the Kentucky Capitol. “It simply stops a so-called ‘therapy’ that the medical community says is wrong and hurts our children.”
Kentucky joins nearly half of U.S. states and the District of Columbia that now prohibit conversion therapy on minors in some form. The patchwork of state-level protections has grown steadily over the past decade, though federal legislation has not yet passed.
Survivors and supporters speak out
Among those attending the signing was Zach Meiners, a 34-year-old filmmaker who underwent conversion therapy as a teenager. He described four years of sessions that left him with “anxiety and depression in ways that I’m still unraveling.”
“I can speak firsthand to how devastating it can be to someone’s mental health,” Meiners said. “And I consider myself very lucky to be a survivor.”
His presence put a human face on what the statistics already show. Research consistently finds that young people subjected to conversion therapy face elevated rates of depression and suicidal ideation compared to LGBTQ+ youth who are accepted by their families and communities. The Trevor Project and other youth mental health organizations have long listed eliminating conversion therapy as a top priority.
Chris Hartman, executive director of the Fairness Campaign — a Kentucky-based LGBTQ+ advocacy organization — described the governor’s message to Kentucky’s LGBTQ+ youth simply: “You are perfect as you are.”
Pushback and legal questions ahead
The order drew immediate opposition from conservative groups. The Family Foundation of Kentucky called it an “unlawful action” that infringes on parental rights and religious expression, signaling a possible legal challenge. Liberty Counsel, a Christian legal ministry, argued the ban conflicts with First Amendment protections.
Republican state Rep. Josh Calloway objected on procedural grounds, arguing that lawmaking belongs to the legislature and not the governor’s office. The legislature is not scheduled to reconvene until January, leaving no near-term legislative path to reverse or codify the order.
Whether the executive order will withstand legal scrutiny remains an open question — and it is the clearest limitation of acting through executive power rather than legislation. Similar orders and laws in other states have faced court challenges, with mixed outcomes. Beshear has said he intends to keep pushing for a permanent statutory ban.
A growing national pattern
The Kentucky action fits into a broader national pattern of state-level protections for LGBTQ+ youth expanding even as other restrictions on gender and sexuality in schools, sports, and medicine increase in Republican-led states. It is a paradox that advocates for LGBTQ+ youth mental health navigate daily: meaningful progress happening alongside significant setbacks, often within the same legislative cycle.
Democratic state Rep. Lisa Willner, who had championed a legislative version of the ban for years, called the executive order “a great step forward for the safety and mental health of so many young Kentuckians.” Even Republican state Rep. Killian Timoney shook the governor’s hand after the signing and expressed personal support for the measure — a small but notable gesture of bipartisan agreement in an otherwise polarized debate.
Beshear has been a consistent voice on this issue. Four years ago, he became the first Kentucky governor to participate in the annual statehouse gay-rights rally. He vetoed a bill banning transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming care — a veto lawmakers overrode — and won re-election by a comfortable margin the following year.
On Wednesday, his message was direct: “It is not about politics at all. And to me, it’s not even about gender or sexuality. It’s about protecting our youth from an inhumane practice that hurts them.”
For LGBTQ+ youth in Kentucky — and for the families, advocates, and survivors who have pushed for this protection for years — that protection is now the law of the executive branch, even if it still awaits the permanence that only legislation can provide.
Read more
For more on this story, see: KTNV Las Vegas
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
- Indigenous land rights reach a new milestone at COP30
- U.K. cancer death rates fall to their lowest level on record
- The Good News for Humankind archive on LGBTQ+ rights
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