LOUISVILLE, Ky. — WHAS11 News first introduced you to Tanner Mobley’s movement to ban conversion therapy in Kentucky.
“Our original goal is raising awareness because many folks don’t know about conversion therapy and the harms that it poses and that was kind of our goal for the year,” Mobley, with Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky, said.
House Bill 199 and Senate Bill 85 both show that no matter how divided the state is on LGBTQ rights, lawmakers are in agreement over conversion therapy.
“You had Representative Alice Forgy Kerr sponsor a bill and you instantly saw a rise in momentum, all this media attention and so many people getting really excited about this issue,” Mobley said.
Rep. Lisa Willner is the author of House Bill 199 which focuses on the mental health effects following conversion therapy practices.
“I had conversations with the senate bill sponsor before she filed the bill and she was very much in support of banning licensed professionals from engaging in this dangerous practice,” she said.
Willner said she and her fellow Republican lawmaker have been working together for their cause.
“This bill has been introduced in the past, and in fact, I introduced it the last session, but this is the first time that we had both a Democrat sponsor the bill and a Republican sponsor a bill and bipartisan support that's never happened before in Kentucky,” she said.
Mobley added, “Now that we have bipartisan support in the house and the senate we're primed for passing this bill within the next year or so I think it would set a precedent for the south and other conservative states that this isn't a bipartisan issue that this is a human rights issue, a pro-life issue.”
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