Tennessee State Senator Jack Johnson hasintroduced a billthat would allow counselors to turn down potential clients if the client's goals, outcomes, or behavior conflicts with a sincerely held religious belief of the counselor. Some say the bill is really about allowing counselors to discriminate against gays and lesbians, but Senator Johnson disagrees.
"That’s ridiculous, that’s a red herring," he says. He also says that he introduced the bill at the request of dozens of counselors in Tennessee. (If a counselor does turn down a client, the counselor would be required to refer the client to someone else.)
However, John Lee, a Chattanooga Clinical Social Worker/Therapist, says if counselors are allowed to refer clients away based solely on the counselor's religious objections, it could create obstacles for gays and lesbians seeking help.
"Particularly in the South," he says, "you have strong conservative Christian values that may not go hand in hand with the LGBT community, and so I think that type of population is already kind of at a loss of who they can seek out."
Dr. H. James Meginley is a Chattanooga counselor who says the bill is going to create a conflict for those in the counseling profession.
"We are bound to abide by our code of ethics," he says, "our professional policies for our various regulatory organizations, and yet now this law is saying that, you can put that aside, and you can discriminate basically against those you see as different than you."
But why should counselors be forced to serve clients they object to, on religious grounds?
I asked Kelly Nickel, the State Legislative Representative with the American Counseling Association.
She says "Here’s the thing about counseling, and it seems to be misconstrued a lot recently. This is a scientific profession. It’s a medical field, just like being a psychologist, a psychiatrist... That should be exclusive of any religious beliefs or values. If [clients] are depressed, they need help with those depression issues. If they have PTSD or trauma, then it’s overcoming those issues, which is all based in science, not belief."
The bill passed the Tennessee Senate, but has stalled in the House.