Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette sided with an Eastern Michigan University student who claims her dismissal from the university for refusing to counsel gay and lesbian patients violated her religious belief. Eastern Michigan University discriminated against former student Julea Ward when it dismissed her from its counseling program after she said her Christian beliefs prohibited her from counseling a gay client, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said in a court filing, EMU said that her dismissal was not due to Ward’s beliefs but rather her refusal to counsel the patient and didn't follow the assigned curriculum and professional ethics guidelines set up the American Counseling Association.
Frankly to be blunt with my response to this article, I would have to say that I side with the side with the university. Julea Ward was not complying with what her counseling job required her to do, which is to council students regardless of their sexual preference. If Mrs. Ward is not willing to counsel any homosexual students, it could open the playing field to not counseling students that differ opinion in other areas as well. Yes, for some people who are very religious it can be difficult to council students that have radically different life styles but wouldn’t that be the case in any walk in life? Adversity surrounds us and everything we do, and Julea should not be exempt from tackling it in a work setting. If anything Julea could take her knowledge from her religious background and help the student. Just because someone is religious does not mean that they should deserve different rights from any other person. The student who was seeking counseling should be allowed to speak his or her mind without negative judgment, especially if they are going there to escape exactly that.
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