Courts attempt to draw the line between religious rights, discrimination

A counseling student at Augusta State University denied services to LGBTQ persons seeking guidance.

By Jordan Cook

Published Aug. 31, 2010

Jennifer Keeton's motion for preliminary injunction against Augusta State University was denied Aug. 20 by Judge Randal Hall, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Georgia.

Keeton, a student at the university pursuing a master's degree in counseling, said she would deny counseling to homosexual students because of her Christian religious beliefs. She considers homosexuality morally and biblically incorrect. Instead of providing counseling, Keeton said she would suggest conversion counseling, a controversial practice in which a person is encouraged to take steps to become heterosexual.

ASU's counseling program follows the ethics code of the American Counseling Association. The ACA sets mandates for counselors in which they must not show biases toward any person they counsel. It also requires counselors to provide services in regard to that person's lifestyle. This is where Keeton's issue lies.

"We recommend that Christians in counseling programs go to Christian schools so they do not face these discrimination issues," said Barbara Weller, attorney for the Christian Law Association in Seminole, Florida. "The issue is what the government is going to allow for Christians who cannot support the homosexual agenda because of their faith."

The program directors at ASU foresaw Keeton's inability to respect the ethics code and placed her on "remediation status," where Keeton would be required to interact with the homosexual community and journal on her experiences before receiving her degree.

MU LGBTQ coordinator Ryan Black said it's important for Keeton to uphold the program's code of ethics.

"I do think it is fair," Black said. "Every university program has its code of ethics that every student must abide by to obtain that degree."

Originally Keeton agreed to her status but later filed a motion for the preliminary injunction with the Alliance Defense Fund representing her. By following her remediation requirement, she argued, it would devalue her religious beliefs.

"I don't think she should have agreed to counsel," MU freshman Hannah Blevins said. "It probably made them feel worse when they were turned away by her."

Although similar cases are arising on other U.S. college campuses, Black said situations like these have not been seen here at MU.

Some could say the denial of Keeton's injunction is a victory for the LGBTQ community, but Judge Hall said in the case report that this is not a case pitting Christianity against homosexuality. Black agrees.

"I see it more as a university upholding their code of ethics," Black said.

But others have begun to question if this is a case of reverse discrimination.

"Silencing Christians on biblical immorality is going to also become an issue," Weller said.

In this particular case a code of ethics that, if broken, would result in discrimination against homosexuals was not going to be upheld. But in other cases, such as in The Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, some could say Christians are the ones being discriminated against. Here, the CLS at University of California-Hastings College of Law was found guilty of discrimination when it didn't allow gay members to hold officer positions. The reasoning was their lifestyle went against the faith. In the end, CLS was found guilty of discrimination against members.

"People have the right to their opinion, but their opinion shouldn't harm someone else," Blevins said.