Photo Courtesy of Alliance Defense Fund
Julia Ward, a counseling graduate student at Eastern Michigan University is appealing a Federal ruling that favored the school’s dismissal of her for her views on homosexuality.
WASHINGTON – It’s a question being raised by counselors and educators across the country: when are religious views on homosexuality an issue of religious and academic freedom, and when are they discrimination?
This July, an Augusta State University student was ordered to undergo “diversity sensitivity” training after she expressed conservative Christian views on the issue of homosexuality. In March, a federal judge supported the Centers for Disease Control in its release of a Georgia counselor who ended a session with a lesbian client to refer her to another counselor because of her religious views. And in Maine last year, a school counselor received complaints for appearing in a TV ad that opposed the state’s gay marriage law.
As the issue of homosexuality has become more acceptable in American society, it appears that conservative Christian views are being phased out from a career that once offered “shock therapy” to treat gay men and lesbian women.
Julea Ward, a conservative Christian student at Eastern Michigan University, was a few credits away from finishing her master’s degree in counseling in 2009. She was in the practical part of the program when she was assigned a student who had previously been counseled about a homosexual relationship.
“She went to her supervisor and said, ‘I may not be the best person for this particular client,’’ said Jeremy Tedesco, her attorney.
Not long after, Ward, who has been directed by her legal counsel not to speak publicly, was brought up on disciplinary charges by her superiors. She was eventually dismissed her from Eastern Michigan for violating the American Counseling Association Code of Ethics and for demonstrating an unwillingness to change her behavior.
On July 26, a federal judge upheld Eastern Michigan University’s dismissal of Ward. Her case is being appealed soon, according to Tedesco, who is from the Alliance Defense Fund, an organization that advocates for the defense of religious liberties and has been active in similar cases.
Tedesco thinks the appeal could take the case all the way to the Supreme Court, bringing the issue to further prominence.
“The judge here definitely got it wrong, in our opinion,” he said. “In my view we’re going to see a trend of more universities doing this.”
Ward’s and other cases have left some professionals wondering whether Christian views opposing homosexuality are compatible with the counseling profession, and whether such views are protected in their profession under the auspices of religious freedom.
So, to what extent should students and professors be allowed to express religious views that chastise homosexual behavior?
That’s still unresolved – but it appears that there’s little tolerance for it, even in the purely academic realm.
Two professors, one in California and one in Illinois, are also being backed by the Alliance Defense Fund in their suits against higher education institutions that fired them for classroom statements that betrayed a less-than tolerant position on homosexuality.
These cases have shed light on a strain within the counseling community. Students in psychology and counseling are subject to the American Counseling Association Code of Ethics instead of university rules that rely on the principles of academic freedom.
Ward’s legal team says the codes are unconstitutional and should not be a basis for discipline, especially at public universities.
“It’s a big difference between teaching a code of ethics and enforcing them,” said Tedesco. “Those kind of policies can’t withstand constitutional scrutiny.”
University administrators disagree, saying they have to abide by professional standards if they want their students’ degrees to be taken seriously in the workforce.
“We have to go through accreditation standards,” said Walter Kraft, Eastern Michigan University vice president for communications. “We have to honor whatever guidelines might exist.”
Ward was given the option to leave the program outright, appear in a formal hearing or complete a remediation program.
Psychology and counseling professionals point out that there are instances in which it is appropriate for them to deny their services, like Ward did, when there is a conflict of interest, a close relationship or unchangeable bias. They say that in practice, counselors and psychologists need to be as open-minded as possible, given the myriad of personalities they encounter.
“A professional needs to be able to work with a wide range of populations,” said Clinton Anderson, director of the office on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns at the American Psychological Association. “That’s a necessary thing when you’re talking about competence.”
Ward’s actions were inappropriate given her chosen specialty, Anderson said, which is school counseling. He said like those working in rural or poorer communities, school counselors are usually strapped and don’t have another provider to whom they can refer a student.
Eastern Michigan University, known for its educational and counseling programs, has never encountered a case like this before, according to Kraft.
But the issue of religious bias against homosexuality has been around as long as universities have been training psychologists and counselors, says Anderson, and a sexual orientation anti-discrimination clause has been in the American Psychological Association’s ethics code for more than 20 years.
He thinks it’s the work of organizations like the Alliance Defense Fund that has brought the issue outside the internal workings of universities and colleges.
“What may be new about it is that there are very active law firms who are prepared to file suits,” he said.
In the past year alone, the defense fund has taken up at least four cases dealing with the clash of religious views on homosexuality in higher education institutions.