Kentucky House Passes HB 495 & SB 2 To Overturn Gov. Beshear “Conversion Therapy” Executive Order and Ban Taxpayer Dollars from Paying for “Gender Transitions”

FRANKFORT, KY – This evening, the Kentucky House voted to concur on HB 495 by Rep. David Hale, an act that overturns Gov. Beshear’s “conversion therapy” ban. HB 495 also includes language to protect taxpayers for paying for gender transitions through Medicaid. The Kentucky House also voted to pass SB 2 by Sen. Wilson, an act that would prevent gender transition treatments and surgeries from being performed in state correctional facilities. Both bills have already passed the Kentucky Senate and now head to Governor Andy Beshear.

The bills came about following Gov. Andy Beshear’s unlawful “conversion therapy” ban executive order and revelations that the Administration is seeking to pay for these kinds of destructive treatments in state correctional facilities without going through the legislative process. The Family Foundation has called for an end of this wasteful spending and has called for the General Assembly to protect Kentucky taxpayers against funding radical gender ideology.

Statement from David Walls, Executive Director of The Family Foundation:

“I am thankful that the General Assembly has taken these important steps to push back against Gov. Beshear’s brazen “conversion therapy” executive order that attached free speech and religious freedom. Further, the idea that state taxpayers should be footing the bill for gender transition treatments of any individual, but especially those who have perpetrated harm against our Commonwealth, is outrageous.

“The passage of HB 495 and SB 2 are a positive development but there is much more that needs to be done. We continue to believe that no taxpayer dollars should pay for any gender mutilation of any person anywhere in this Commonwealth. To use taxpayer funds for such purposes is not only poor stewardship but encourages individuals to undergo irreparable harm to their person. It’s not possible to change a person’s sex, and government has no place in promoting or subsidizing such madness,” Walls concluded.