Bill Haslam takes his place alongside Pat McCrory and Phil Bryant in 2016's parade of gubernatorial bigotry.

It bears repeating: Never have I seen a more mean-spirited, nonempathic, and damaging legislative effort masquerading as "religious freedom" than the one that Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam signed into law Wednesday. In a mind-bending display of twisted thinking, therapists apparently need statutory protections from all those clients out there weighing them down with their “icky” problems (get that—it’s the therapists who need protecting).

Gov. Bill Haslam today signed into law a controversial bill that says no licensed counselor or therapist must serve a client whose ‘goals, outcomes or behaviors” conflict with the counselor’s “sincerely held principles” – a measure denounced by the American Counseling Association as a “hate bill” against gay and transgender people. [...] In a phone call with Tennessean Opinion Engagement Editor David Plazas, [Gov. Haslam] said, "I was concerned about the legislation - the connotations," referencing the criticism. However, he felt more comfortable because the law, as passed, requires a counselor to take a client who has an emergency and life threatening situation and compelled counselors to refer clients they did not want to take to competent therapists.

Hey, I felt way better about empowering bigoted therapists to reject clients so long as they aren’t slitting their wrists. Idk, worst human being of the year, perhaps?

The American Counseling Association, btw, said this bill was nothing but an unwelcome intrusion on the profession.