Legislative leaders said Wednesday that Gov. Andy Beshear overstepped his authority when he issued the executive order last month banning conversion therapy on minors in Kentucky who identify as LGBTQ.
“He does not have the ability to change the law,” said House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect. “That is a legislative function. He is in charge of administering the laws, but he is not in charge of making the laws.”
Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, agreed. “He has overstepped his bounds. He is getting into a total separation of powers issue, and he is legislating instead of executing. The issue is the issue, but the process is more critical. The courts are the courts, we’re the policy makers, he is the executor.”
Stivers accuses Beshear of trying to set policy, and that it’s wrong regardless of the issue. ”It’s wrong when he tries to do tax codes, it’s wrong when he tries to do this, it’s wrong when he says he has certain authorities that he does not have, except by executive order. He tries to take authority which the legislature did not grant him.”
Osborne says he and Stivers have not discussed whether they would support legislation during the 2025 session to reverse Beshear’s conversion therapy order.
“I think most would agree that he is in violation of what the statute allows him to do anyway, so I’m not sure that another statute is going to deter him from continuing to break the law,” said Osborne.
When asked if a lawsuit could be forthcoming since they don’t believe another statute would be the answer, Stivers replied, “It’s a possibility.”
When he issued the ban, Beshear said, “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. Conversion therapy has no basis in medicine or science, and it can cause significant long-term harm to our kids, including increased rates of suicide and depression. This is about protecting our youth from an inhumane practice that hurts them.”
The executive order makes it illegal to use state or federal funds to provide conversion therapy on minors and gives licensing boards the authority to take disciplinary action against licensees found to have practiced conversion therapy on minors.
Critics have said the order violates the constitutional rights to both free speech and religion.
By Tom Latek, Kentucky Today
