Holland Sentinel: Bill named for EMU student dismissed for refusing to counsel gay client clears committee

By Cindy Heflin Associate news director

Posted on Wed, Mar 14, 2012 : 4:44 p.m.

A bill prohibiting religious discrimination against college students studying counseling, social work and psychology has cleared a House Committee, the Holland Sentinel reported.

The bill was prompted by the case of Julea Ward, who was kicked out of a counseling program at Eastern Michigan University because she refused to counsel a gay student about a relationship. She said doing so conflicted with her Christian religious beliefs. She instead referred the student to another counselor.

Julea Ward at Eastern Michigan University.

Ward sued EMU in 2009, but lost in the lower courts. Ward and her attorneys, the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal organization that works to uphold the rights of religious college students and faculty, appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth District.

A three-judge panel of the court said a jury could conclude the university used a code of ethics it adheres to "as a pretext for punishing Ward’s religious views and speech" and sent the case back to a lower court. EMU denies any bias.

Representatives of psychological and social work organization warned members of the House Education Committee during testimony that the bill could jeopardize accreditation for universities’ counseling programs.

Bill 5040 also is known as the "Julea Ward freedom of conscience act," the newspaper reported.

The bill and two House resolutions urging Congress and public universities to end religious discrimination now go to the full House, the Sentinel reported.

Read the Holland Sentinel article.