COUNSELING DEGREE: To counsel gays or not...do I have to?

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Some time ago I wrote about a student at Eastern Michigan University that sued the university because the school kicked her off their COUNSELING program when she refused to counsel gays due to her deeply held religious beliefs. At the time, our Republican attorney general joined her suit in support against the university.

I stated then that the MICHIGAN attorney general has no place in filing a friend of the court motion because he represents the citizens of Michigan and the suit is between a student and her university but he just could not keep his religious and political nose out of the case.

In 2010 a federal judge ruled for the university which claimed the student did not fulfill her curricular requirements and for not following the American Counseling Association’s code of ethics. She is appealing, egged on by the religious right no doubt.

I stated then that I have a friend that is deeply religious and also would not counsel gays among others BUT she attended a religious school that gave her a degree in counseling and did not require her to counsel gays as part of her graduation requirement.

I feel that any student that enrolls in a graduate program that clearly states what is required for graduation MUST follow those stated requirements or leave the program without a degree. Since the university clearly states what is required for graduation and all students are aware of those requirements, the university can toss the student out when those requirements are not met…duh.

BUT NOW, a Michigan Democratic state senator (Tupac Hunter) has introduced a bill in the Michigan Senate that would allow counseling students to decline to counsel gays based on their religious beliefs or moral convictions. Hunter was asked if students can decline to counsel blacks because it is somehow against their principles? Hunter, who is black, did not see the connection...

Here I state again that if you are so bloody religious, you should go to a religious school to get your diploma in counseling; plain and simple instead of balking at actions you knew were required by the university.

I think counseling is an important field that benefits many individuals that desperately need help in managing their lives; I have known people that benefited from wise counseling but of course I know people that received bad counseling and for this reason, I feel a strong program curriculum is paramount in creating a good and effective counselor and I trust the school to know what is needed to produce such counselors.

I think politicians should stay the hell out of matters that don’t concern them but of course, state funding for universities is a big hammer to hold over a university’s head and so they must meekly comply or pay the price.

I knew we were going to have problems with Republicans in the state; we elected them to fix our finances but we should have known that their religious agenda was not going away and now even the Democrats are getting involved; they must feel most voters in Michigan are religious nuts and elect other religious nuts…

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