CINCINNATI, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- An Eastern Michigan University counselor fired for her refusal to counsel gay and lesbian students won the right to sue her employer Friday.
Julea Ward won the right to argue a religious discrimination suit against the university in a decision by Judge Jeffery Sutton and two other judges on a panel of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, the Detroit Free Press reports. Ward's case will now go back to U.S. District Judge George Steeh in Detroit, who previously ruled in the university's favor in 2010.
"Although the university submits it dismissed Ward from the program because her request for a referral violated the American Counseling Association code of ethics, a reasonable jury could find otherwise -- that the code of ethics contains no such bar and that the university deployed it as a pretext for punishing Ward's religious views and speech," Sutton said.
Ward is being represented by lawyers from the Alliance Defense Fund, a faith-based legal group.
"Public universities shouldn't force students to violate their religious beliefs to get a degree," said Jeremy Tedesco of the ADF.
Ward said she was willing to counsel gay and lesbian students on other matters but refused to counsel them with regard to sexual orientation.
