Take a deeper look into Andy Beshear's battle against conversion therapyhttps://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/08/take-a-deeper-look-into-andy-beshears-battle-against-conversion-therapy/Daniel Villarreal (25 Aug 2025)
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) issued an executive order essentially banning conversion therapy in his state and criticizing state Republicans who opposed a legislative ban on the practice. But then Republican lawmakers undid his executive order by passing a law protecting counselors who engage in the practice.
Andy Beshear's battle against conversion therapy exemplifies the larger legal and cultural war over the widely debunked and harmful pseudoscientific form of psychological torture that seeks to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. The Supreme Court will soon hear a case over similar bans, and its implications for LGBTQ+ minors and Christian conservatives will have long-reaching and fatal consequences.
In September 2024, Gov. Beshear signed an executive order forbidding the use of state or federal funds to provide conversion therapy on minors and giving state licensing boards the authority to take disciplinary action against licensees found to have practiced conversion therapy on minors.
He also vetoed bills banning access to gender-affirming health care, restricting bathroom access for trans and nonbinary people, and forbidding classroom instruction on LGBTQ+ issues (though Republican supermajorities in both of Kentucky's legislative chambers voted to override his veto).
In March 2025, state Republican legislators passed a bill overturning Beshear's executive order.
In response to the Republican bill, Beshear said, "We should not be allowing [conversion therapy] to happen here in the Commonwealth. [LGBTQ+ youth who are victims of the practice] are children of God that deserve our protection."
