This story mentions suicide. If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.?

Correction: This story previously misstated how House Bill 495 was changed through a floor amendment.

FRANKFORT — The GOP-controlled Kentucky House approved a bill Wednesday that seeks to invalidate an executive order issued last year by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear restricting the controversial practice of conversion therapy.?

Sponsor Rep. David Hale, R-Wellington, touted the original version of House Bill 495 as a way to protect counselors, pastors and therapists providing therapy to minors from discriminatory actions by the government, assuring parents can make choices on what kind of therapist a minor sees. Hale’s bill specifically protected mental health services seeking to relieve “discomfort or distress caused by an individual’s sex or romantic or sexual attraction.”?

On the House floor, Hale successfully changed the legislation through an amendment that deleted the original language, replacing it with language that would invalidate Beshear’s order issued last year restricting conversion therapy. Hale told his fellow lawmakers he believed Beshear’s order infringed on “parental authority” and First Amendment rights.?

The House passed the new version of HB 495 on largely partisan lines by a vote of 77-18.?

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) is among the medical and psychological organizations that have condemned conversion therapy. AACAP has stated conversion therapies “lack scientific credibility and clinical utility” and that there is? “evidence that such interventions are harmful.”??

The American Psychological Association has stated people who have undergone “sexual orientation change efforts” are significantly more likely to be depressed and suicidal. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 988.?

The minority of Democrats in the chamber echoed concerns expressed by advocates representing psychologists, social workers and the LGBTQ community in opposing the bill. Rep. Sarah Stalker, D-Louisville, said the bill would be detrimental to mental health care for youth, mentioning her time as a foster parent working with LGBTQ minors.?

“Many times they came into care, not because there was necessarily abuse or neglect — or sometimes there was. But sometimes it was simply because their family rejected them for who they were, who they are, and they could not stay there,” Stalker said. “This is harmful, and it’s certainly not compassionate.”?

McKenna Horsley contributed to this report.