Detroit Free Press: Bill targets EMU after dismissal of student Julea Ward over refusal to counsel gay client

Republicans in the state Legislature are backing a bill that takes aim at Eastern Michigan University following its dismissal of a student who, citing religious beliefs, refused to counsel a gay student, the Detroit Free Press reports.

A bill approved in a higher education subcommittee Wednesday would require universities with accredited counseling programs to report how they will protect students' "deeply held religious" beliefs, the Free Press reported. The bill doesn't mention EMU, but lawmakers told the Free Press the case of dismissed graduate student Julea Ward is the impetus for it.

Julea Ward sued Eastern Michigan University after she was dismissed from a graduate program because she refused to counsel a gay client.

Photo courtesy of ADF

EMU dismissed Ward from its graduate counseling program after she refused to counsel a gay student because she said homosexuality was against her religious beliefs. Ward had referred the client to another counselor.

 

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

The American Civil Liberties Union weighed in on the side of EMU in the case. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schutete supports Ward.

• Read the Free Press article.