A pair of LGBT activists on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, challenging a recently enacted law that allows therapists and counselors to decline to serve gay clients when doing so would violate their sincerely held beliefs.
Bleu Copas and Caleb Laieski said the new law unconstitutionally targets and discriminates against gay people.
Mr. Laieski, a prominent gay-rights activist who lives in Washington, D.C., said in a statement the goal of the lawsuit is to “send a clear message to Tennessee that discrimination will not be tolerated, especially when it jeopardizes folks seeking mental health services.”
And Mr. Copas, a Tennessee counselor, said the law is discriminatory and sends the wrong message to “an already marginalized group of Tennesseans.”
“Beyond the blatant and subliminal ethic code violations, this type of legislation creates barriers at a time when building trust is paramount,” he said in a statement.
SB 1556, which was signed into law by Mr. Haslam on April 27, came in response to the Supreme Court ruling creating a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.
Pro-family groups praised the legislation for protecting medical professionals whose beliefs may contravene the goals of same-sex couples who seek their services, such as with regard to marriage or sex counselling.
Family Action Council of Tennessee president David Fowler said the legislation restores the right of counselors “to make referrals when they cannot in good conscience affirm a particular counselling goal or objective that a prospective client might have.”
Pro-LGBT groups denounced the bill as a state-sanctioned license to discriminate against gay people.
“This measure is rooted in the dangerous misconception that religion can be used as a free pass to discriminate,” Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the ACLU of Tennessee, said in a statement earlier this year. “Allowing counselors to treat some potential clients differently from others based on their personal beliefs defies professional standards and could cause significant harm to vulnerable people.”
The law requires counselors, regardless of their beliefs, to treat people who are believed to be in imminent danger to themselves or to others. Therapists who turn away clients must also refer them to another counselor.
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