Governor Beshear vetoes bill protecting conversion therapy

FRANKFORT, Ky.- Governor Andy Beshear has vetoed a bill that would overturn his 2024 executive order banning conversion therapy. House Bill 495 would also deny Medicaid funds to pay for gender-affirming care for transgender adults. In a video on X, Governor Beshear announced he vetoed the bill Saturday during the Kentucky Fairness Campaign Dinner in Louisville.

Beshear shared that he believes conversion therapy is torture for our kids, and no one should ever have to subject a kid to something like that.

Conversion therapy is described as interventions purported to alter same-sex attractions or an individual’s gender expression.

Conversion therapy is torture, and that’s why I signed an executive order banning it in Kentucky. Legislators seek to overturn those protections with HB 495, which I vetoed at the Fairness Dinner.

I’m going to keep fighting for what’s right — and that’s loving thy neighbor. pic.twitter.com/UYDK0f1690

— Governor Andy Beshear (@GovAndyBeshear) March 23, 2025

The legislature returns to Frankfort on Thursday where lawmakers will then have two days to override the Governor’s vetoes.

You can read more about the legislature for yourself by clicking right here.