Late change to bill ending Kentucky conversion therapy ban will now disqualify Medicaid-covered transgender care

FRANKFORT, Ky. (FOX 56) — Late bill changes sparked an outcry from Kentucky’s LGBTQ community on Wednesday.

Lawmakers are moving ahead on a bill not only repealing a conversion therapy ban, but it could now impact transgender people on Medicaid.

“You will cost lives. This was not the original intent of this bill at all,” The Fairness Campaign executive director Chris Hartman told lawmakers in a meeting of the Senate Health Services Committee on Wednesday.

“There are many medical procedures that the government does not cover, and the government has no business covering those services,” The Family Foundation policy director Nick Spencer told lawmakers later in that same meeting.

House Bill 495 has taken on many forms this session. The bill originally began as a proposal to protect counselors from government discrimination, countering an executive order last fall by Governor Andy Beshear to ban conversion therapy. In the House, lawmakers rewrote the bill with an amendment to simply repeal the executive order. It passed 77-18 last week.

On Wednesday, the Senate Health Services Committee added language, taking the bill further. In addition to repealing the executive order, it would now also ban any Medicaid coverage for cross-sex hormones or gender reassignment surgery. Executive director of The Fairness Campaign Chris Hartman was almost removed from the room over the late change.

“How dare you?” Hartman exclaimed before being ordered to stand down by committee chairman Sen. Steve Meredith, who threatened to remove Hartman if he continued to raise his voice.

“These people were prepared to testify on House Bill 495 on conversion therapy. What you have allowed, Mr. Chairman, is a sneak attack on our transgender community without public input,” Hartman said.

The Family Foundation policy director Nick Spencer supports the bill. He said he believes the governor’s executive order limits free speech to only counsel one way on LGBTQ issues, and people should be able to choose the counseling that fits them. Democrats questioned how that logic fits with the bill’s changes.

“You need to explain to me how you reconcile that with the addition to this bill banning Medicaid from covering transgender treatment for adults,” Sen. Karen Berg (D-Louisville) asked.

“My justification is that the government has no business spending tax dollars on elective surgeries and elective procedures for people with transgender feelings,” Spencer responded. The bill could go before the full Senate as soon as Thursday.