CINCINNATI — A federal appeals court has delivered at least a temporary victory for religious freedom and free speech in the confrontation between Christian counseling students and university programs that affirm homosexuality.
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 27 in favor of an Eastern Michigan University (EMU) graduate student who declined to affirm the “sexual orientation” of homosexual clients because of her religious beliefs. As a result of her refusal, the university expelled Julea Ward from the counseling program in 2009.
A three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit unanimously overturned a federal court’s summary judgment in favor of the school.
“Public universities shouldn’t force students to violate their religious beliefs to get a degree. The court rightly understood this and ruled appropriately,” said Jeremy Tedesco, legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, who argued for Ward before the court. A school official said Ward violated sections of the American Counseling Association code of ethics, including “discrimination based on … sexual orientation.” Ward said she was not opposed to counseling homosexual clients if she was not required to affirm their “sexual orientation.”
“Surely, for example, the ban on discrimination against clients based on their religion (1) does not require a Muslim counselor to tell a Jewish client that his religious beliefs are correct if the conversation takes a turn in that direction and (2) does not require an atheist counselor to tell a person of faith that there is a God if the client is wrestling with faith-based issues,” the opinion from the panel said. “Tolerance is a two-way street. Otherwise, the rule mandates orthodoxy, not anti-discrimination.”
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