Gov. Andy Beshear to sign executive order banning conversion therapy tomorrow
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is expected to ban conversion therapy via executive order Wednesday, per an announcement from his office.
A brief media advisory sent out Tuesday evening said Beshear would “take action to protect Kentucky youth.”
Beshear plans on signing the executive order at 10 a.m. Wednesday in the State Capitol Rotunda in Frankfort in an event including multiple mental health advocates and Chris Hartman, who leads the Fairness Campaign.
Over the past few years, there have been multiple bills filed in Frankfort hoping to ban conversion therapy. They ultimately didn’t go anywhere, despite at times having bipartisan support and more than two dozen co-sponsors.
While the state at large hasn’t banned conversion therapy (yet), at least three cities have banned the practice in recent years: Covington, Louisville and Lexington.
![LINK IN BIO Curtis Galloway, founder of Conversion Therapy Survivor Network, says because of this nuance, the laws don’t have much impact. “Ninety-five percent of people [in the network] would not fall under the protections of the laws that are in place.”
Almost 80 survivors in Galloway’s network have reported going through conversion therapy and many of them by religious leaders. In Nebraska, one survivor reported experiencing conversion therapy at Parkview Baptist Church. In Charleston, at Christ Temple Church. And in California, at Living Waters. All three churches did not respond to requests for comment.
Galloway’s organization hosts Survivor Sundays online with 15-20 people showing and more and more people joining. “We have to add another weekly meeting,” he says.](https://queerkentucky.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)
