LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky lawmakers are looking to ban conversion therapy in the commonwealth.
On Tuesday, Representatives Lisa Willner (D-Louisville) and Killian Timoney (R-Lexington) filed House Bill 162, or The Youth Mental Health Protection Act.
The bill would prohibit all licensed mental health providers from engaging in any practices that try to change a minor's sexual orientation or gender identity.
It would also prohibit any agency that provides conversion therapy, or refers minors to the harmful practice, from receiving state funding.
"Conversion therapy is the practice of harmful interventions that seek to 'cure' or suppress the sexual orientation and/or gender identity of a person," The Kentucky Coalition for Healthy Children (KCHC) said.
According to KCHC, numerous professional health and mental health organizations in Kentucky have opposed the use of conversion therapy on kids, calling the practice "harmful and ineffective."
The organization said conversion therapy "significantly" increases suicide rates and other self-harming behaviors and negatively impacts a child's school attendance and academic performance.
A national study by The Trevor Project in 2021 on LGBTQ+ Youth Mental Health found "13% of LGBTQ+ youth reported being subjected to conversion therapy, with 83% reporting it occurred when they were under age 18."
The survey found minors who underwent conversion therapy were more than twice as likely to report having attempted suicide and more than 2.5 times as likely to report multiple suicide attempts in the past year.
"A license to provide mental health services ought to be, at the bare minimum, a guarantee to the public that the provider is not engaging in discredited and dangerous practices," Willner said.
In 2020, Louisville's Metro Council voted to ban conversion therapy in the Metro.
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