Bipartisan Movement in Kentucky to Protect LGBTQ Minors From Conversion Therapy

Kentucky advocates are pushing harder than ever this month to pass legislation protecting minors from anti-LGBTQ "conversion therapy," the discredited and dangerous practice of trying to change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity.

New polling released in 2021 finds that 74% of respondents in Kentucky oppose subjecting LGBTQ children to "conversion therapy," and 57% support legislation prohibiting the practice. Majorities of Evangelicals, Republicans, and Catholics said they support the legislation.

Legislation banning "conversion therapy" has been filed in both chambers of the Kentucky legislature and is supported by a record number of Republican co-sponsors. Republican co-sponsors include Senator Alice Forgy Kerr, a Conservative Baptist Sunday School Teacher who previously was a leader in the anti-LGBTQ movement in Kentucky.

"There's a national conversation around the urgent need to protect minors from so-called 'conversion therapy,' and right now Kentucky is at the heart of this conversation," said Tanner Austin Mobley, Executive Director of Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky. "Our polling shows that Republicans and Democrats, evangelicals and Catholics alike agree that it's time for Kentucky to protect our LGBTQ youth – but to make this bill a reality, leadership needs to prioritize this issue and take action right away. It's not just the right thing to do – but it's also politically popular, across the political spectrum."

Momentum has been building to pass this legislation in recent years in Kentucky. The Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky coalition includes support from more than 100 organizations, including the Kentucky Psychological Association, Kentucky Nurses Association, Kentucky Medical Association, and Kentucky Mental Health Coalition. Covington and Louisville passed municipal ordinances against conversion therapy in 2020, and several other communities plan to discuss local ordinances this year. In August, the Kentucky legislature held its first-ever informational hearing on the bill, the first hearing on a pro-LGBTQ hearing in Kentucky in over five years.

"Banning the practice of conversion therapy on minors is a necessity and the majority of Kentuckians agree," said Representative Kim Banta, a Republican in the Kentucky House and a primary sponsor of the bill. "We've established the facts, we know it is Constitutional, and it is past time we move forward."

Kentucky's momentum comes on the heels of Virginia becoming the first state in the South to pass legislation protecting minors from "conversion therapy" in the spring of 2020.