NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A former Tennessee state lawmaker turned anti-gay activist has helped draft a bill in the state legislature that would allow graduate student counselors to reject clients based on religious beliefs.
The proposed measure would bar schools from disciplining students if they decline to treat clients with “goals, outcomes or behaviors that conflict with a sincerely held religious belief of the student,” such as opposition to homosexuality.
David Fowler, president of the Family Action Council of Tennessee, who previously squared off in a fight with LGBTQ equality rights activists in an effort to change Tennessee’s anti-bullying law for students, received help from Alliance Defending Freedom,(ADF) a Phoenix-based Christian legal group, in drafting the bill.
The bill was based in large part by a case in Michigan that involved a Christian student named Julea Ward, who was expelled from a master’s degree program at Eastern Michigan University for refusing to counsel gay clients or clients who were sexually active but not married.
Ward sued the school with help from ADF, and eventually received a $75,000 settlement. Fowler’s bill would bar schools from punishing students like Ward.
A similar bill was signed into law in Arizona. Lawmakers in Michigan and Georgia have proposed similar bills.
The Tennessean reported that the American Counseling Association, a national association for counselors, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in favor of Eastern Michigan University. That brief claimed students should not be allowed to use religion to turn down clients.Fowler said that claim violates the religious freedom of students.
Jake Morris, the director of the graduate program in counseling at Nashville-based Lipscomb Christian university said the bill is a bad idea, and that students need to be able to treat a wide range of clients, not just those who share their religious values.
The state Senate was scheduled to discuss the bill Monday, while a House subcommittee is scheduled to take it up on Tuesday.
Related articles:
Filed under: Tennessee
Florida teen fighting criminal charges related to same-sex relationship
Harvey: Gays deserve to be fired for displaying their lifestyles to everyone
Wash. florist who refused flowers for gay couple’s wedding files suit against state
Anti-gay marriage activist commits suicide on alter at Notre Dame cathedral
Texas judge enforces ‘morality clause’ to split up lesbian couple
Catholic school: Transgender student must wear girl’s graduation gown
Candidate for Va. Lt. Governor warns same-sex marriage leads to bestiality
ACLU, attorney condemn prosecution of teen who had sex with minor girlfriend
Sex and the teenage girl: The Kaitlyn Hunt tragedy
UPDATED: Police call fatal New York City shooting an anti-gay hate crime
Iowa anti-gay activist explains his opposition to gay marriage: ‘It’s awful’
Details emerge in case against teen accused of lewd behavior with girlfriend
BREAKING: French president signs marriage equality bill into law
Everything is bigger in Texas – even the homophobia
Attorney implies suspect’s child sexual abuse was a factor NYC killing
i say this is a bunch of crap religion should stay out of the work place period
Why the fuck would any one bother to click the like button ?
A student tried to do this at Eastern Michigan University a few years ago and got the boot. She sued and the college won. Her oath as a counselor supercedes her belief system. She is required by the accrediting body of her degree to treat all patients equally. She is somewhere else now.
Absolutely insanity.
and the Southeaster Accreditation body for Schools of Psychology should revoke accreditation to every school that does it.
very wrong. God sees them.
All 41 of them. http://www.educationnews.org/career-index/psychology-schools-in-tennessee/
I would not want to go to a counselor who doesn’t understand my lifestyle. If their religion keeps them from working with me, then fine, they don’t need to be the support I go to anyway. I’ve seen too many counselors who have biased opinions advertise themselves as “gay-friendly” when in fact, they are unable to drop their heterosexist belief system to be of any real benefit to anyone – straight or gay. Leaves more job openings for gay therapists too!!!
well, we don’t want to infringe on someone’s religious beliefs. I mean, if you’re gay ..and you go near a religious bigot..they automatically have to stop believing in God. It’s in the New testament, I think.
That goes against the ethical guidelines and mandates of the American School Counseling Association, not to mention being an unethical way to treat students.
Tennessee, I don’t miss you at all. Nashville is too good for the state it’s in.
What? So many laws will be broken..
How does Tennessee even have graduate students?
I am a licensed psychotherapist focused in LGBT issues. Not only am I honored and proud to get to do the work I do, I look forward to working with clients who are turned away elsewhere. They, like everyone else, deserve respect and someone willing to work with them as they work to improve themselves. In addition, the Code of Ethics of the profession (which supersede state laws and such) mandate acceptance of all, so sorry, this can’t possibly fly no matter what state or what school.
Wonder what would happen if a therapist woudnt take a cathollic or christian client..then you would hear the whining
I see a supreme court case to separate Church from State… May be time to simply tax the churches….
Only in the South!
So in other words, a counselor in that state needn’t counsel anyone who isn’t a good straight Republican snake-handling Baptist? What’s the dang point of being a counselor then?
That’s completely agaisnt the constitutional rights…
No Social Worker will be able to do this… it goes against the Code of Ethics.