Constitutional Law

Judge tosses lawsuit by student who wouldn't counsel gays

By By The Associated Press

DETROIT ? A conservative legal group says it will appeal a federal judge's decision to throw out a lawsuit brought by an Eastern Michigan University student who was kicked out of a master's degree program because of her religious views against homosexuality.

Julea Ward of Detroit was removed from Eastern Michigan's counseling program because she refused to counsel gay clients as part of her course work, saying her Christian beliefs hold homosexuality to be morally wrong. She asked that another counselor be assigned her prospective client.

After the university decided that Ward's refusal violated university policy and a professional counseling organization code, it removed her from the counseling program. Ward sued the Ypsilanti school last year, alleging a violation of her constitutional rights.

U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh ruled in favor of the university and granted it summary judgment on July 26.

"Plaintiff was not required to change her views or religious beliefs; she was required to set them aside in the counselor-client relationship - a neutral, generally applicable expectation of all counselors-to-be under the ACA (American Counseling Association) standard," the Detroit Free Press quoted Steeh as writing in his 48-page opinion.

Alliance Defense Fund attorney David French said the group would appeal the decision.

According to the Alliance Defense Fund website, "The school dismissed Julea Ward from the program because she would not agree prior to a counseling session to affirm a client?s homosexual behavior."

French said, "Christian students shouldn?t be penalized for holding to their beliefs. When a public university has a prerequisite of affirming homosexual behavior as morally good in order to obtain a degree, the school is stepping over the legal line. Julea did the responsible thing and followed her supervising professor?s advice to have the client referred to a counselor who did not have a conscience issue with the very matter to be discussed in counseling."

The First Amendment Center Online contributed to this report.

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on July 28, 2010 (boomark / email).