Kentucky becomes latest state to ban controversial conversion therapy on minors

Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on Wednesday signed an executive order that officially bans the controversial practice of conversion therapy on minors.

The order makes Kentucky the 24th state to ban the practice, which has been strongly denounced by LGBTQ advocates. The therapy attempts to change an LGBTQ person's gender identity or sexual orientation, but critics have claimed the practice is not based on any medicine or science, per NBC News.

Beshear said the order is intended to protect LGBTQ youth from practices that could harm their mental health. 

"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 statement. "This is about protecting our youth from an inhumane practice that hurts them.”

An advocate for the LGBT advocacy group "The Trevor Project" praised the passage of the new Kentucky order in a statement to NBC.

“As a proud queer person who grew up in Kentucky, I am thrilled to see the governor take action to protect LGBTQ+ young people from conversion therapy -- an abusive practice that has harmed too many of us, for too long across the Commonwealth,” Tanner Mobley, the group's manager of state advocacy and conversion therapy campaigns, said.

Other states that have banned the practice include California, Nevada, Illinois, Maine, Oregon, Washington, Vermont, and Washington D.C., among others, according to the LGBTQ think tank Movement Advancement Project.

The executive order has gone into effect immediately.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.