I know the case of Julea Ward is kind of old news around here, but it still comes up a lot in my Google News feed about EMU. Here’s a blog post that was on the American Counseling Association web site (which lends a certain credibility to what’s being said here) titled “To Help Every Client Who Walks Through the Door.” The writer, a high school counselor named David McCord, does a good job of explaining the issues and why Ward was dismissed from school. He also makes a good point that I hadn’t really thought about before:
As a school counselor, I was happy to hear that in this case the correct decision was made. Think of the damage this person could have caused as a counselor working in one of our school systems. In high school I came out to my school counselor and she affirmed my identity, helped me through a situation, and made me feel safe and protected. I would have been horified if my counselor had rejected my being gay and refered me to another counselor. Thank goodness, barring a successful appeal from a higher court, this person will not be a high school counselor.
EMU’s counseling program has no control over where its graduates do or don’t get jobs, and while it might be okay for someone who feels homosexuality is a sin to counsel similarly believing folks (maybe at a religious school or in a private practice explicitly Christian), this would be a huge problem if this student worked in a public high school.
I’d say Julea Ward doesn’t belong in a Christian school any more than she belongs in any other school.
A couple of points. There are many Christians who accept, affirm, embrace and value LGBT people for all that they are. Many practicing Christians are themselves LGBT.
Also, the percentage of Christian young people who are gay is likely no different from the percentage in any other population. It’s probable that these kids are MORE vulnerable than the average LGBT youth, because they know how much opposition there can be in their environment. For a Christian kid to have the courage (or the distress) to seek counseling, and to be rejected or vilified in this environment could be exceptionally damaging.
I know many self-proclaimed “Christian counselors” believe homosexuality is wrong (as if it were a decision, with moral underpinnings), and that it can be “reversed” or sublimated. These are good reasons these people should NOT be counselors – especially of children. I would hope there aren’t any graduates hanging their EMU credentials on the wall who would espouse a similar ideology… either within or outside a religious context.