Counseling Student Sues University for Wrongful Dismissal When She Refused to Accept a Client's Homosexuality

According to the Ypsilanti Courier, an EMU counseling student, Julea Ward, is suing the university for wrongful dismissal in US District Court. During the winter 2009 semester Ward was acting as a counselor as a part of her master's program at the university when she was assigned a gay student. Ward informed her professor that she could not advise the student with regard to his relationship or sexual behavior because she refused to affirm homosexuality as morally acceptable.

University policy affirms a commitment to preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation. Additionally, the counseling department is bound by the American Counseling Association's code of ethics, which states that counselors cannot discriminate on any basis, including gender identity and sexual orientation, and prohibits counselors from imposing their own values on clients.

Ward's attorneys argue that she was wrongfully dismissed from the program based on her religious beliefs that sexual relationships should occur between a man and a woman and that individuals are capable of refraining from homosexual conduct.