LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A retired Kentucky pastor is voicing his support for Gov. Andy Beshear's executive order limiting conversion therapy in the state.
Bob Browning, who's led churches within the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, shared how his more than 50 years of experience in ministry eventually led to his change of heart years ago.
"I haven't always felt the way I do now. As a matter of fact, I grew up making fun of people who even acted like what a gay person we thought would act like," Browning told WHAS11.
Many years ago, Browning had a change of heart.
He said after years of talking to young people who had been exposed to conversion therapy, he felt called to advocate against it, saying he sees "the dark side and the result of it when it does not work, and it doesn't."
In a 2020 interim joint committee meeting in Frankfort, Browning testified before Kentucky lawmakers in support of Senate Bill 85, one of a handful of bills over the years proposing to make conversion therapy on minors illegal. He told them, "I plead with you to put a name and a face and a story with the decision -- the difficult decision -- that you have to make."
Fast forward four years and Browning stands by every word of that testimony, telling WHAS 11 on Tuesday, "You don't walk away from many cemeteries where somebody dies out of depression and despondency over who they are without making some changes in the way you think."
Conversion therapy is the practice of attempting to change a person's sexual orientation by using psycho-analysis, counseling and other methods. It's a widely discredited practice.
Since the Governor signed the executive order last week, religious conservatives in Kentucky have been pushing back.
Nicholas Spencer, director of policy for the Family Foundation of Kentucky, is worried about the potential chilling effect Beshear's action could have on mental health professionals, saying it infringes upon their religious liberties.
"They're going to think, 'Well, does this fall into the category of the executive order? What can I share? How much?" Spencer told WHAS11 on Tuesday. "I know there are legislators who are concerned with the steps the governor has taken, and I trust that they will do what they can to roll back what he's done."
Kentucky Republicans like State Rep. Josh Calloway have vowed to fight and overrule Beshear's executive order.
"I will draft a bill that will undo anything that is unconstitutional or anything that violates any type of religious liberty, parental rights or freedom of speech," Calloway told WHAS11.
Beshear's executive order, signed on Sept. 18, directs state agencies to pull funding -- and potentially suspend or revoke licenses -- from therapists practicing conversion therapy.
For Browning, there's a bigger question he believes policymakers need to ask LGBTQ+ kids.
"What could this legislative body do to help you," he suggested. "They're not asking for a lot. But listen to them and see if perhaps you can do some things that would help them, instead of inflicting more disappointment and disillusionment upon them."
Legislation to ban conversion therapy on kids in Kentucky has seen support from both Republicans and Democrats in the state legislature over the years, but to this point none of these bills have had significant movement.
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