The Tennessee senate passed a bill that would allow counselors and therapists to deny service to individuals with same-sex attractions because of their religious beliefs. The bill now heads to the Governor Bill Haslam for signature.
The bill was aimed to protect counselors whose clients want them to affirm sexual behaviors counselors think do not align with their religious beliefs.
Senate Bill 1556, sponsored by State Rep. Dan Howell (R), was approved in the upper house by a comfortable margin of 25-6. House had already passed the bill by 68-22 votes.
The governor has 10 working days to sign it to be made into a law.
The bill states that "no person providing counseling or therapy services shall be required to counsel or serve a client as to goals, outcomes, or behaviors that conflict with a sincerely held religious belief of the counselor or therapist."
"This bill provides immunity from liability for counselors and therapists who refuse to counsel a client as to goals, outcomes, or behaviors that conflict with a sincerely held religious belief of the counselor or therapist," the official summary of bill reads.
"Counselors or therapists refusing to provide counseling or therapy under this bill must coordinate a referral of the client to another counselor or therapist who will provide the service. This bill includes liability protection for those persons providing counseling or therapy services whether or not they are licensed, registered, or otherwise regulated by the state."
The American Counseling Assocation criticized the Tennessee bill, and called it an "unwanted and unnecessary blow to the counseling profession and those who benefit from the services of a professional counselor."
The group stated that "allowing any health care provider to deny services based on their own "strongly held religious belief" would have a deleterious effect on countless people who seek mental and physical health services," and that it will "continue its opposition to the discrimination that this bill perpetuates."
Haslam told reporters that he can "understand the reasoning" behind the bill, but he wanted to wait till he received the final bill, The Tennessean reported.
Family Action Council of Tennessee said that the bill was necessary because of the American Counseling Association's alteration of its ethics code in 2014, which told counselors not to refer potential clients "based solely on the counselor's personally held values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors."
A Christian Counselor Julea Ward referred a potential client, who wanted advice on a same-sex relationship, to another therapist as she could not affirm the relationship while counseling because of her sincerely held beliefs. Ward was expelled from her service, but she appealed the decision in court which ruled in her favor.
"This amendment by the ACA was in direct response to a 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Ward v. Polite, which upheld the right of a Christian counselor to refer a gay/lesbian client if the therapy sought required the counselor to affirm a same-sex relationship in violation of her beliefs," stated the Family Action Council.
"A counselor who has not regularly treated clients with behaviors or goals that conflict with a counselor's personally held values is less likely to be competent to treat such a client," the Family Action Council said. "However, according to ACA, this still may not be grounds for referral. A client deserves to be treated by a counselor who not only sympathizes with their issues, but is also experienced and competent to offer effective treatment."
The court issued a statement in favor of Ward, saying "[She] was willing to work with all clients and to respect the school's affirmation directives in doing so. That is why she asked to refer gay and lesbian clients (and some heterosexual clients) if the conversation required her to affirm their sexual practices. What more could the [non-discrimination] rule require? Surely, for example, the ban on discrimination against clients based on their religion 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 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. Tolerance is a two-way street."
