A controversial piece of Kentucky legislation on LGBT conversion therapy is moving forward after passing in the Senate. House Bill 495 would overturn Governor Andy Beshear’s 2024 executive order banning conversion therapy.

If you think you’re passing the right things, you don’t have to hide it,” Beshear said of a late-game committee substitute introducing the Medicaid ban.

In the last days of the legislative session, Kentucky lawmakers continue to push forth a bill that would reverse restrictions on conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ youth. Conversion therapy, described by the American Medical Association as "not based on medical or scientific evidence,

Legislation that would overturn an executive order by Gov. Andy Beshear that banned conversion therapy in Kentucky, was passed by the Senate on Thursday.

Late bill changes sparked an outcry from Kentucky’s LGBTQ community on Wednesday. Lawmakers are moving ahead on a bill not only repealing a conversion therapy ban, but it could now impact transgender people on Medicaid.

Lawmakers in Kentucky are looking to protect conversion therapy by invalidating Gov. Andy Beshear’s executive order restricting the controversial practice. House Bill 495 would overrule Beshear’s ban on conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ youth in Kentucky.

A bill amended Wednesday would block the use of Medicaid dollars to pay for gender-affirming health care for trans adults, as well as widely reinstate the practice of conversion therapy across Kentucky.