Tennessee state Sen. Jack Johnson

David Fowler, president of the Family Action Council of Tennessee, speaks at a news conference at Legislative Plaza in Nashville on March 5, 2013, in this file photo. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig)

facebook

NASHVILLE — A group of Tennessee therapists and counselors with religious backgrounds expressed strong opposition Tuesday to a bill scheduled for state House floor debate today that seeks to let professionals with "sincerely held" religious beliefs reject gay, lesbian and transgender clients.

"I am concerned that this bill attacks the American Counseling Association's Code of Ethics, a document that's critical to the training of counselors," said Peter Wilson, a psychologist and director of graduate counseling at Trevecca Nazarene University, a Nashville higher education institution serving the needs of the Church of the Nazarene.

Wilson said family and marital counselors and therapists are entitled to their own beliefs and views and may even share them, "but the code does say you cannot impose any of those values and beliefs."

He and others said that's critical to providing professional help in areas from teens with sexual identity issues to former soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder who may encounter therapists whose religious views are at odds with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender lifestyles or who hold pacifist views about war.

Rep. Dan Howell, R-Georgetown, the House sponsor, and Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, say their bill is intended to protect conservative therapists from 2014 changes in the American Counseling Association's Code of Ethics.

Johnson, whose bill has already passed the upper chamber, has said he brought the legislation after a Williamson County substance abuse specialist complained.

The changes direct that "counselors refrain from referring prospective and current clients based solely on the counselor's personally held values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors."

David Fowler, president of the conservative Family Action Council of Tennessee, who is advocating for the legislation, has said the reason the national therapist organization changed the ethics code was because of a U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals case involving a Michigan college student who was expelled from the university's counseling program after she refused to counsel a gay client.

But Wilson and other critics of the bill say withholding judgment despite their own views is essential to developing trust and helping clients overcome serious problems that in some cases could lead to suicide.

And, they said, the measure's reach extends well beyond LGBT clients to, for example, cases in which an older teen or adult harms or sexually mistreats a younger person.

"What happens if I say don't work with people who hurt people?" asked Dr. Dianne Bradley, a marriage and family therapist who attended Trevecca Nazarene University. "Where would they go?"

"I'm a therapist who happens to be a Christian," Bradley said of how she balances her professional responsibilities and her faith.

Also speaking at the news conference was Chris Sanders, executive director of the Tennessee Equality Project that advocates for the state's LGBT community.

Sanders said young people in the LGBT community have especially difficult times and are often the subject of bullying and harassment.

He cited a case involving Copper Basin High School in Polk County, where in 2015 student Patrick Griffin, 18, committed suicide and two months later 13-year-old Jazmine Kellie Harris committed suicide amid allegations of ongoing bullying.

Sanders noted Polk is in Howell's House district.

Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com, 615-255-0550 or follow via twitter at AndySher1.