Bill Passed In Michigan House Allows Religious Counseling Students To Deny Gay Clients
2:53 pm - 06/15/2012
Julea Ward was dismissed from a counseling program at Eastern Michigan University in 2009 after she refused to counsel a gay student based on her Christian religious beliefs and, according to school officials, declined to work with the university to resolve the issue.
Michigan's House passed a bill Tuesday that would prohibit the state's public universities from taking such action in the future. The bill HB 5040 is being called the "Julea Ward freedom of conscience act" in honor of Ward.
It would forbid public colleges and universities from discriminating against or disciplining students participating in counseling, social work and psychology programs "because the student refuses to counsel or serve a client as to goals, outcomes, or behaviors that conflict with a sincerely held religious belief of the student, if the student refers the client to a counselor who will provide the counseling or services."
While the legislation has gained the support of the Michigan Family Forum and the state's Attorney General, it has also attracted a diverse coalition opposing the bill. Equality Michigan, an LGBT group said on their website that the bill "threatens clients seeking counseling with rejection based on their race, relationship status, and faith, or, yes, because of their sexual orientation" and "sends the message that medical decisions can be based on religious and personal beliefs and not on what’s in the best interest of the patient."
The legislation also has also come under fire from a variety of organizations. The American Civil Liberties Union, The National Organization for Women and state educational institutions and professional groups including The Michigan School of Professional Psychology, the Michigan School Counselor Association, the Michigan Counseling Association, the Council on Social Work Education, the National Association of Social Workers and the Michigan Association of Social, the Presidents' Council of Public Universities of Michigan and Western Michigan University all oppose the measure.
Leigh Greden, director of government and community relations for EMU said the bill would jeopardize the the accreditation of several of Michigan's premier academic institutions, including EMU. An accreditation is special approval given to a learning institution when that school meets certain requirements.
At the time of her dismissal, Ward was participating in a masters degree practicum program in school counseling that was certified by the American Counseling Association. The program requires students to abide by the organization's Code of Ethics, which does not allow practitioners to refuse counsel based on a client's sexual orientation.
Ward sued EMU in 2009, charging that the school violated her constitutional rights. Although she initially lost the case in federal court, she appealed the case with help of attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund and won a ruling from the U.S. Sixth District Court of Appeals. According to AnnArbor.com, it ruled that a jury might have viewed the university use of the code of ethics "as a pretext for punishing Ward's religious views and speech," and motioned for a retrial with a jury in a lower court.
Greden maintains the university's decision to dismiss Ward from the program was simply a matter of school policy.
"The underlying lawsuit is not about religion and not about homosexuality. It's about the right of university to insist that their students complete their academic assignments," said Greden.
"If this case was about religion and EMU was engaged in discrimination, clearly she wouldn't have done so well in our program," he said to The Huffington Post, noting that Ward was an 'A' student. "She only encountered a problem when she said she wouldn't counsel a client."
Jeremy Tedesco, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund, disputes EMU's claims the bill could cause the university to lose its accreditation. He told AnnArbor.com the ACA code of ethics allows for counselor's to make referrals, as Ward did during her practicum -- an argument the ACA's Chief Professional Officer David Kaplan contradicted in written court testimony.
Tedesco said he was happy to hear the news of the state House's recent vote.
"We're encouraged that the elected representatives of Michigan have taken a concern in this case and decided to act," he told AnnArbor.com.
HB 5040 passed the House 59-50 and will now go before the Senate.
__________________________
source wonders wtf is up with the Michigan House this week.
Michigan's House passed a bill Tuesday that would prohibit the state's public universities from taking such action in the future. The bill HB 5040 is being called the "Julea Ward freedom of conscience act" in honor of Ward.
It would forbid public colleges and universities from discriminating against or disciplining students participating in counseling, social work and psychology programs "because the student refuses to counsel or serve a client as to goals, outcomes, or behaviors that conflict with a sincerely held religious belief of the student, if the student refers the client to a counselor who will provide the counseling or services."
While the legislation has gained the support of the Michigan Family Forum and the state's Attorney General, it has also attracted a diverse coalition opposing the bill. Equality Michigan, an LGBT group said on their website that the bill "threatens clients seeking counseling with rejection based on their race, relationship status, and faith, or, yes, because of their sexual orientation" and "sends the message that medical decisions can be based on religious and personal beliefs and not on what’s in the best interest of the patient."
The legislation also has also come under fire from a variety of organizations. The American Civil Liberties Union, The National Organization for Women and state educational institutions and professional groups including The Michigan School of Professional Psychology, the Michigan School Counselor Association, the Michigan Counseling Association, the Council on Social Work Education, the National Association of Social Workers and the Michigan Association of Social, the Presidents' Council of Public Universities of Michigan and Western Michigan University all oppose the measure.
Leigh Greden, director of government and community relations for EMU said the bill would jeopardize the the accreditation of several of Michigan's premier academic institutions, including EMU. An accreditation is special approval given to a learning institution when that school meets certain requirements.
At the time of her dismissal, Ward was participating in a masters degree practicum program in school counseling that was certified by the American Counseling Association. The program requires students to abide by the organization's Code of Ethics, which does not allow practitioners to refuse counsel based on a client's sexual orientation.
Ward sued EMU in 2009, charging that the school violated her constitutional rights. Although she initially lost the case in federal court, she appealed the case with help of attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund and won a ruling from the U.S. Sixth District Court of Appeals. According to AnnArbor.com, it ruled that a jury might have viewed the university use of the code of ethics "as a pretext for punishing Ward's religious views and speech," and motioned for a retrial with a jury in a lower court.
Greden maintains the university's decision to dismiss Ward from the program was simply a matter of school policy.
"The underlying lawsuit is not about religion and not about homosexuality. It's about the right of university to insist that their students complete their academic assignments," said Greden.
"If this case was about religion and EMU was engaged in discrimination, clearly she wouldn't have done so well in our program," he said to The Huffington Post, noting that Ward was an 'A' student. "She only encountered a problem when she said she wouldn't counsel a client."
Jeremy Tedesco, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund, disputes EMU's claims the bill could cause the university to lose its accreditation. He told AnnArbor.com the ACA code of ethics allows for counselor's to make referrals, as Ward did during her practicum -- an argument the ACA's Chief Professional Officer David Kaplan contradicted in written court testimony.
Tedesco said he was happy to hear the news of the state House's recent vote.
"We're encouraged that the elected representatives of Michigan have taken a concern in this case and decided to act," he told AnnArbor.com.
HB 5040 passed the House 59-50 and will now go before the Senate.
__________________________
source wonders wtf is up with the Michigan House this week.
the michigan family forum tho
No, you only want to help people in the way that you think Jesus would allow - you wouldn't get to criticize the homosexual relationship or homosexuality as a counselor.
The fact remains, counsellors deal with epople at their most vulnerable - including closeted people, people in denial, people struggling to come to terms with their sexuality or gender identity - and they are in an incredible position to do horrendous damage
If you are a bigot you CANNOT CANNOT do this job
I only worry about areas where people have no other options - i.e. insurance restrictions or small cities.
Edited at 2012-06-15 10:34 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2012-06-15 10:39 pm (UTC)
Fuck you, Michigan lawmakers.
You can't be judgmental when you're a counselor. They were right to dismiss her.
But both suck and as a counselor you are supposed to be professional you idiots =/
A counsellor that doesn't agree with your lifestyle choice can fuck you up hardcore, even if they think they're dedicated to trying to help you. I'm thinking about polyamory primarily here because that's the thing that's affected my life.
So telling counsellors that they can refuse someone as long as they refer them to someone else might give someone who didn't feel they were able to properly counsel someone because of an internal bias on their part the freedom to find a colleague who was excellent on that subject and refer the person to them.
There is a slippery slope aspect to this that I am uncomfortable with though. Not comfortable with pocs? Go to the 'coloured' therapist. Not comfortable with women? Go to the ladies therapist. I don't think the world needs this much specialization and compartmentalization. Its not accurate to life.
However there are specialized therapists.
Perhaps a better solution; rather than allowing therapists to deny service to individuals they are not comfortable with, if a therapist wishes the right to not counsel someone because of their creed, orientation, or colour, they must declare their bias on their business card, their signs and advertisements, thereafter people and institutions can chose for themselves.
I don't believe a university would chose to hire an employee that would not service a diverse group of students,(If they did, that could easily be made into a fact to be tracked about universities just like student body and amenity statistics) and if all this meant counsellors and therapists would not name their biases, they would not be able to dismiss a client and I believe that if a case could be made by former clients that a therapist/counsellor HAS a bias that they haven't declared, first they should receive some kind of punishment, and second they should not get their license to practice back until they declare and submit proof that they have.
However, I'm a bit of a tyrant and I can already see a bunch of flaws with my plot. People can have their bat shit beliefs all they want, but it can't get in the way of the jobs they're hired to do, and if it does they have to make accommodations for themselves because they're the one with a problem.
1. This is about students, not counselors who already have degrees. So it's not just about referring people but students who display open bias and discrimination are legally not allowed to be disciplined or removed from a degree program.
2. In some circumstances there may not be an equivalent counselor for someone to be go to. For example, in some small non-profits that have free counseling to those who meet their service eligibility may have only 1 or just a few counselors. So a referral to another counselor may mean being referred to someone who is not free.
3. This is not even specific to counseling. All sorts of social work practice would fall under the wording here. Call a crisis line and it comes out that you are gay and suddenly you are on hold while they find another person to take the call or more likely suddenly you are given a referral to a different crisis line (I've worked with several crisis lines- it's unusual to have more than one person at a time available to take a call.) Or as an example I used above- you are in the hospital and in need of on some type of on call crisis intervention/advocacy services. Someone is called out and arrives and sits down with you, oh your gay? Please wait while we try to call another person to come work with you. Et cetera, et cetera.
I can understand that a person would generally not want someone who has such moral/religious oppositions to them as a long-term counselor, but at the same time this could prevent individuals from getting that counseling at all, or create significant roadblocks and time delays in getting other types of services from a social worker, and can be incredibly upsetting when a person is in crisis and is reminded that even those who are supposed to be there to help them view them soo lowly that they wouldn't help them in a moment of crisis.
I can't stand any of these ~moral clauses that are sprouting up. If you can't do your job, find a field of work where it's not an issue. I can't believe Republicans get upset about this - the employers of people like this should be able to fire them. Not because they're religious, but because they're shitty employees.
Counseling (unless it's related specifically to a church or something) in particular is a field IMO that you shouldn't go into if you have deep set religious convictions that you need others to share. Because, okay, they get to foist off gay patients (give all people coming in a survey?) but chances are, there are few that they counsel that they will agree with 100%. What if it's an atheist that they're counseling, or someone considering divorce? I honestly don't know what my therapist believed in, because the focus was on my wants and needs, and finding something that made me happy. A counselor who can't even meet with a gay person would be a huge red flag that they're going to be terrible at the job.