DETROIT -- A federal judge has ruled to uphold the dismissal of a graduate counseling student who refused to treat gay clients.

Judge George Caram Steeh of the U.S. District Court in Detroit dismissed the lawsuit against Eastern Michigan University filed by the student, Julea Ward, who was kicked out of the school’s graduate counseling program last year because of her refusal, on religious grounds, to “affirm homosexual behavior” when serving clients.

Judge Steeh, granting summary judgment to Eastern Michigan University, held that the school’s requirement that students in the counseling program be willing to treat homosexual clients was reasonable and did not infringe on Ward’s rights to free speech or expression of religion.

A group of Christian lawyers helping to represent Ward, the Alliance Defense Fund, said in a statement on Tuesday that they plan to appeal the judge’s ruling.

"Christian students shouldn’t be penalized for holding to their beliefs,” ADF Senior Counsel David French said, according to AllianceDefenseFund.org.

"When a public university has a prerequisite of affirming homosexual behavior as morally good in order to obtain a degree, the school is stepping over the legal line” French said.

Ward entered the counseling program at Eastern Michigan University with the goal of becoming a high school counselor and was not reprimanded for expressing her homophobic views in her coursework or class discussions. She received all A’s in her classes, the judge’s summary of her case said.

But her opposition to homosexuality became a problem when she enrolled in a course last year that required students to counsel real clients in a university-operated clinic. When she encountered a client who wanted to be treated for depression, but had previously been counseled about a homosexual relationship, she asked her instructor if she could pass the client along to another counselor because her religious views kept her from doing anything to “affirm homosexual behavior.”

The program that Ward was in is required to familiarize students with the ethics codes that are set forth by the American Counseling Association and the American School Counselor Association, in order for the university to maintain its accreditation with the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs. In her refusal to affirm homosexual behavior, Ward violated ethics codes including a prohibition against discriminating against sexual orientation and an American Counseling Association rule stating that its members shouldn’t show “an inability to tolerate different points of view.”

Instead of leaving the program or taking time to reevaluate her feelings about homosexuality, Ward chose to go to a hearing with faculty members and a student representative. At the hearing Ward stated that she refused to affirm behavior that “goes against what the Bible says” and disagreed with, but didn’t plan to violate, the American Counseling Association's rule against trying to change a homosexual person’s sexual orientation.

The panel of faculty and student representative unanimously voted that Ward be dismissed from the counseling program. According to Mlive.com Ward received a letter from the university informing her that she had been dismissed from the program because she broke the American Counseling Association’s code that prohibits counselors from discriminating based on sexual orientation. Ward then sued the university.

Ward’s lawsuit alleged that the university violated her first amendment rights to free speech as well as her 14th amendment rights to due process. Judge Steeh ruled that Ward’s dismissal from the program was, “entirely due” to her “refusal to change her behavior” rather than her religious views.

The ruling said, "Her refusal to attempt learning to counsel all clients within their own value systems is a failure to complete an academic requirement of the program."

Further reading

To read a report by USA Today, click here.