LGBTQ+ youth in Kentucky are a step closer to losing one of the very few protections they have from their state government.

Kentucky’s GOP-dominated House voted Wednesday afternoon to end Gov. Andy Beshear’s 2024 executive order banning conversion therapy and to block future restrictions on the discredited counseling practice until 2028.

They voted largely along party lines, with Democrats generally against the legislation.

House Bill 495 initially sought to allow mental health practitioners and religious leaders to provide conversion therapy without consequence, but was suddenly changed on the House floor to focus solely on preventing executive orders — essentially returning Kentucky to where it was before Beshear’s order in September 2024.

“While we are glad the original language, which would have encouraged incredible harm to LGBTQ kids, is gone, we still strongly oppose HB495,” Chris Hartman, the leader of the Fairness Campaign, said in a press release.

“No child should be subjected to ‘conversion torture.’ It serves no purpose but to increase anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicide among Kentucky’s LGBTQ kids. We hope the Kentucky Senate will reject HB495 and ensure the safety of LGBTQ youth all across our commonwealth,” he continued.

HB 495 now heads to the Senate, where it will need to quickly clear several legislative hurdles in order to make it to Beshear’s desk in time to withstand a likely veto.

Kentucky lawmakers have tried, unsuccessfully, for years to pass legislation to ban conversion therapy. Beshear took matters into his own hands last fall when he issued an executive order blocking state funds from paying for the practice.

“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,” Beshear said in a press release at the time. “This is about protecting our youth from an inhumane practice that hurts them.”

Several Republicans criticized the move at the time, partially because they deemed it an unconstitutional infringement on religious and parental rights.

Such energy was a driving force behind House Bill 495. Bill sponsor Rep. David Hale (R-Wellington) initially contended the bill seeks to protect a parent’s right to select mental health supports that best match their morals and values.

Kentuckians should be able to do so “without the threat of action being taken against them or the individual providing those services,” Hale, a pastor, said during a committee vote on the bill last week.

Several LGBTQ+ advocates and trained mental health professionals — including multiple conversion therapy survivors — testified against HB 495 ahead of the committee vote.

Eric Russ, a psychologist, argued mental health professionals have an ethical obligation to provide quality, research-backed services. Conversion therapy is not that.

When asked by Rep. Matt Lehman (D-Newport) if he was OK with allowing discredited practices to be available to kids, Hale didn’t directly answer but said he felt testimonies against the bill were “not correct.”

If ultimately passed, HB 495 would go into effect immediately.