Kentucky’s Republican Legislature supports the discredited practice of conversion therapy so strongly that both houses overwhelmingly overrode Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of a bill to allow the practice.
House Bill 495 was proposed as an “emergency” measure to reinstate the legality of counselors and pastors claiming to turn gay and lesbian people into happy heterosexuals. The practice has been widely discredited by medical and psychology groups and banned in numerous states. Earlier, Beshear had banned spending tax dollars to pay for the therapy.
Conservative legislators didn’t like that.
After the Kentucky Legislature passed the bill over strenuous objections from professional counselors and the LGBTQ community, Beshear vetoed it. But the Legislature wasted no time in voting to override the veto and make the bill into law immediately.
Last Wednesday, the House voted to override the veto 78-20, along party lines. A few hours later, the Senate voted 31-6 to override the veto.
The bill also denies Medicaid coverage for transgender health care.
“Conversion therapy has no basis in medicine or science and causes significant long-term damage to our kids, including increased rates of suicide, anxiety and depression,” Beshear wrote in explaining his veto.
David Walls, executive director of The Family Foundation, told the Associated Press the bill was a needed pushback against Beshear’s executive action, which he called an attack on free speech and religious freedom.
Rep. David Hale, a Republican from Wellington, offered the original bill in the House. He called Beshear’s executive order an “abuse” of power that “infringes on parental authority.”
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