Media&Communications

The 2026 Kentucky Legislative Session is underway, and the LGBTQIA Council is on the frontlines. Right now, lawmakers in Frankfort are making decisions that directly impact our families, our healthcare, and our freedom of expression. From renewed attempts at book bans to bills targeting gender-affirming care, the stakes for LGBTQIA rights in Kentucky 2026 have never been higher.

But here is the good news: We are not backing down.

Why Your Voice Matters Now

Last year, we saw what happens when the Commonwealth shows up. We saw rallies that filled the halls of the Capitol and heard testimony that moved hearts. This year, we are doubling down on that momentum. Advocacy isn’t just about what happens in a voting booth, it’s about the work we do every day to ensure our community is seen and heard.

3 Ways to Take Action Today

1. Join the Legislative “Rapid Response” Team: When a harmful bill moves to a committee, we need to flood their phones.
2. Support the Banned Book Brigade: As we fight for policy change, we are also fighting for our culture. Donate a book or host a “Little Gay Library” in your neighborhood to keep our stories alive.
3. Attend Our February Meeting: Join us for our next monthly session where we’ll host a deep-dive on legislative strategy and community care.

We Belong Here

The narrative that Kentucky is a place of exclusion is one we rewrite every single day. Whether you are in Louisville, Lexington, or the smallest rural county, you belong here. Your joy is a form of resistance, and your advocacy is the engine of our progress.

Let’s move forward together. Let’s build a Kentucky where everyone can live with Pride.

Conversion therapy in Kentucky is a dangerous and discredited practice that continues to threaten LGBTQ youth. Despite overwhelming evidence that this so-called “therapy” causes lasting harm, lawmakers in our state have failed to protect young people from its devastating effects. Major medical organizations, including the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, have made it clear: conversion therapy is ineffective, unsafe, and abusive.

What Is Conversion Therapy?

Conversion therapy in Kentucky and across the nation typically involves attempts to “change” a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity through coercive and pseudoscientific methods. Survivors often report experiences of shame, emotional abuse, and religious pressure.

The consequences are severe:

• Higher rates of depression and anxiety
• Increased substance abuse
• Significantly greater suicide risk among LGBTQ youth (Trevor Project)

The Status of Conversion Therapy

In September 2024, Gov. Andy Beshear issued an executive order banning conversion therapy for minors. But in 2025, the Republican-controlled legislature reversed his order, reopening the door for this harmful practice in Kentucky.

This decision puts Kentucky on the wrong side of history, making it one of the few states to roll back protections and leaving LGBTQ youth more vulnerable than ever.

Why Conversion Therapy in Kentucky Matters

Kentucky’s LGBTQ youth already face discrimination, lack of health care access, and hostile legislation. Adding conversion therapy back into the mix endangers lives.

As the Human Rights Campaign explains, every major medical association rejects conversion therapy because it does not work and actively causes harm. Allowing conversion therapy in Kentucky further isolates queer and trans youth when they need compassion and protection.

How You Can Take Action

Ending conversion therapy in Kentucky requires all of us. Here’s how you can help:

• Call your legislators and demand they ban conversion therapy once and for all.
• Support local organizations like The Fairness Campaign that fight for LGBTQ equality in Kentucky.
• Share your story or stand with survivors to raise awareness.

Take action now with the LGBTQIA Council of the Kentucky Democratic Party:

• Join the Council
• Fill out our demographic form
• Donate to support advocacy statewide

Conversion therapy is not therapy, it is abuse. Kentucky must move forward with compassion and equality, not backward with outdated and dangerous practices. By raising our voices, supporting survivors, and pushing for legislative change, we can end conversion therapy in Kentucky and protect the next generation of LGBTQ youth.

Every ten years, new census data triggers redistricting. Lines are redrawn for Congress, the state legislature, county commissions, school boards, and city councils. Good maps keep communities together so voters choose their leaders. Bad maps can predetermine outcomes and weaken the voices of working people, rural residents, Black and brown Kentuckians, and LGBTQ+ communities. Kentucky redistricting and fair maps are a powerful tool that in the wrong hands, can disenfranchise voters.

Why redistricting shapes fairness

Kentucky redistricting and fair maps start with equal population so each vote carries similar weight. They should be contiguous and reasonably compact, comply with the Voting Rights Act, and respect communities of interest, which are neighborhoods or groups that share ties like schools, economy, transit, or culture. When mapmakers slice a community across multiple districts, it is called cracking. When they cram many of its voters into a single district, it is called packing. Both tactics distort representation, mute constituent service, and reduce accountability, because elected officials feel safe from competition rather than responsive to voters.

What this looks like in everyday life

When mapmakers split a neighborhood into three districts, residents struggle to secure funding for clinics or safer streets because no single official takes responsibility. When they pack parents and students into one school board district, families gain one reliable champion but lose influence across the rest of the board. For LGBTQ+ Kentuckians, dividing supportive precincts buries nondiscrimination priorities, while packing them sidelines those priorities to a single seat. These tactics reduce competition, weaken incentives to listen, and produce policies that drift away from what most people want.

Kentucky redistricting and fair maps decide who holds power before anyone votes. Fair maps keep communities whole so voters choose their leaders. Unfair maps fracture neighborhoods, silence voices, and lock in outcomes. Here is how you can take action, step by step.

3-minute actions – What You Can Do To Fight Kentucky Redistricting and Fair Maps

1. Call both U.S. Senators from Kentucky and ask for transparent, community-first redistricting standards.
   • Sen. Mitch McConnell (DC): (202) 224-2541. 
   • Sen. Rand Paul (DC): (202) 224-4343.
   If lines are busy, use the U.S. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your member.
2. Call your U.S. House member and make the same ask. If you are not sure who represents you, use the House “Find Your Representative” tool and call the DC office listed.
3. Ask for public criteria: equal population, Voting Rights Act compliance, compactness, and protecting “communities of interest” like school zones, transit corridors, and cultural neighborhoods.
4. Ask for sunlight: publish draft maps early, post data and shapefiles, and allow real public comment before any vote.
5. Share a 3-sentence story. Explain how your area is split or packed and what service suffers because of it. Personal stories get logged and passed to staff.

15-minute actions

6. Email all three of your federal offices with the same message and attach a screenshot of your neighborhood on a map.
7. Identify your city council, county commission, and school board districts and ask when local lines are reviewed. Many local maps change outside the statewide timeline.
8. Submit written testimony that defines your community’s boundaries and shared needs.
9. Recruit two neighbors from a different precinct to make the same calls this week.
10. Write a short letter to the editor about why competitive, community-based maps matter in your county.

Sample call script

“Hello, my name is ___, I live in ___ County. I am calling about redistricting. I want transparent, public criteria and maps that keep our community together so voters choose their leaders. Please support posting draft maps with data, real time for public comment, and protections for communities of interest. Can I get the office’s position and a reply?”

Who represents Kentucky in Congress

U.S. Senators: Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul.

U.S. Representatives by district: 1 Comer, 2 Guthrie, 3 McGarvey, 4 Massie, 5 Rogers, 6 Barr. If you are unsure which district you are in, use the House lookup tool by ZIP code.

We can help

If you want talking points or a map screenshot for your neighborhood, message our Page and join our Facebook group to coordinate testimony and rides to hearings.

Note: Direct numbers are current as of publication. If a line changes, call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected.