(Via KARK) Changes to rules regulating counselors in the state are being criticized by some LGBT advocates.



Penelope Poppers is Executive Director of Lucie’s Place in Little Rock. It’s an organization providing help to homeless LGBT people. She sees first hand mental health problems they face.



“You don’t have anywhere to go and that’s why the suicide rate in the LGBT community is so high,” she said.



Poppers says mental health counselors can save lives and that’s why she fears the impact of new regulations approved by lawmakers on Tuesday saying counselors cannot be sanctioned for transferring current or potential clients based on ethical, moral or religious principles.



“Now that counselor can say, ‘well, ‘I don’t want to work with you because of your sexual orientation,'” Poppers said.



But lawmakers who approved the rule change disagree. They say it will help patients and those who treat them.



“It allows them to refer them to another counselor who may be better suited to treat them,” said State Rep. Andy Davis, R-Little Rock.



The State Board of Examiners in Counseling also defends the new ethics language. The Executive Director says LGBT patients are protected by requirements that counselors take several steps including additional training before denying treatment .



“The rule clearly states that they can only make that referral in consultation and after careful consideration and that they cannot abandoned someone,” Davis said.



LGBT advocates say the regulations could have a big impact in rural areas where there are few counselors available.



The director of the Arkansas chapter of the Human Rights Campaign called the changes “troubling.”