Initial lawsuit stories can be frustrating. For reporters. And for readers.
In many cases, the story starts as a news release from an attorney or advocacy group. And it’s not uncommon for the key source — the plaintiff — not to be available for interviews. The defendant, meanwhile, frequently declines comment, either because the accused party has not been served with the lawsuit or has not had time to develop a response.
If it’s a juicy story, the media bite anyway — probably rightfully so — and we end up with reports that lack key details.
Here’s the top of a Chronicle of Higher Education story on a lawsuit filed last week:
A graduate student in school counseling is accusing Augusta State University in federal court of violating her constitutional rights by demanding that she work to change her views opposing homosexuality.
In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Augusta, Ga., the student, Jennifer Keeton, argues that faculty members and administrators at the university have violated her First Amendment rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion by threatening her with expulsion if she does not fufill requirements contained in a remediation plan intended to get her to change her beliefs.
Ms. Keeton’s lawsuit accuses the university of being “ideologically heavy-handed” in imposing the requirements on her “simply because she has communicated both inside and outside the classroom that she holds to Christian ethical convictions on matters of human sexuality and gender identity.” It argues that her views, which hold that homosexual behavior is immoral and that homosexuality is a chosen lifestyle, would not interfere with her ability to provide competent counseling to gay men and lesbians.
A news release sent out by the Alliance Defense Fund identifies Keeton as a “Christian” and indicates that she holds “mainstream Christian beliefs.” However, given that 78 percent of Americans identify with some form of Christianity, according to Gallup, more specific information on Keeton’s religious background and affiliation would be extremely helpful.
Instead, readers get descriptions such as “devout Christian” in a CNN report and “outspoken Christian views” from AOL News. Even a generic “evangelical” would go a long way, assuming that’s the case. In the video above, the narrator cites Keeton’s “deeply held religious beliefs, including clear biblical teaching on sexual morality.” But there’s no indication if she’s a Southern Baptist, a Pentecostal or a Roman Catholic.
Initial lawsuit stories can be frustrating. For reporters. And for readers.
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Comments (26) |
July 28, 2010, at 10:15 am
I have noticed a very frequent shorthand of calling evangelicals “Christian”. That appears to be what is going on here.
July 28, 2010, at 10:27 am
It is to the reporter’s credit though that they correctly identified her objections as against the behaviour and lifestyle, rather than implying an objection to the orientation.
July 28, 2010, at 10:43 am
I go to church with Jen and I’m not sure how I’d categorize her affiliation. We attend a Southern Baptist (technically reformed but not by name) church but she was previously attending a non-denominational reformed church. Evangelical would be the best handle but I rarely hear that term used in our part of the Bible belt.
How should the reporter have handled the label in this situation?
July 28, 2010, at 11:20 am
I do think it intriguing that she was allegedly prescribed conversion therapy. Need more stories!
July 28, 2010, at 12:21 pm
CNN a short while ago had one of those three-way talking-head interviews about this case that included Ms. Keeton’s attorney, an expert on counseling ethics and a representative from the gay community. It was actually a fairly balanced report, and one that didn’t turn into a shouting match.
I surmised from the report that she’s some sort of evangelical or fundamentalist Protestant (although the question wasn’t directly answered). My main problem with the CNN segment was that it left too many questions unanswered; a big point of it was the counselors are supposed to be trained to deal with a diverse clientele, but the question was never asked if Ms. Keeton would be less able to deal with gay clients than a gay activist counselor (for example) might be able to deal with religiously conservative clients — under the circumstances that seems like a fair question to ask.
The CNN report did a fairly decent job of distinguishing the issues of behavior as opposed to orientation or religious belief. Really, I thought the basic issues were laid out fairly well.
Jake — If the “evangelical” label isn’t used often in your part of the Bible Belt, what term is used? I’m just curious.
Where I live (northern Rockies), I wouldn’t hesitate to use “evangelical Protestant” to distinguish from mainline Protestant, Catholic or Mormon (all of which are fairly common here), although I would try to include the name of the person’s church if available. I wouldn’t use the term “Christian” by itself.
July 28, 2010, at 12:44 pm
gfe, the term used in Georgia (as in Kentucky) is simply “Christian.” All by itself (with no qualifiers), “Christian” usually means evangelical Protestant here.
July 28, 2010, at 12:57 pm
I just read that another lawsuit over a related issue was dismissed.
July 28, 2010, at 1:07 pm
I have to wonder if there is any credible research about whether or not someone with strong beliefs can counsel someone who has a lifestyle that embodies the antithesis of those beliefs. Maybe someone can be that objective and if so that should be reported. But given the evident bias we see every day in the media, I doubt it.
But another salient question is whether or not someone who is a therapist or counselor necessarily has to serve all communities. I doubt that as well as someone who received a MA in Psychology many years ago and tried a brief career as a counselor.
From the story, I have the impression that she’s being disingenuous about being able to treat gay people and the college is being disingenuous about the need for a counselor to be able to work with everyone equally effectively.
What kind of counseling program she’s in is also not mentioned in the story. So while I had been assuming psychological counseling here, the actual facts could be different and that might also affect the situation. If she’s being trained to work in a school where she’d be required to treat everyone rather than in private practice, that would also be a very useful fact to know.
So, once again, we’re treated to a “he said she said” news article that is an inch deep when it comes to reporting the real issues and which ignores the real world.
July 28, 2010, at 1:27 pm
@Jerry - Pastors do this all the time with people who go through divorce. Though carrying strong beliefs that divorce is wrong in nearly all cases, these pastors, by offering compassion and godly wisdom, manage to help people who are divorcing or have divorced for reasons far less difficult than what the pastor might count as allowable.
Your other question about whether a counselor has to serve all communities is a great one. You might also ask whether the gay counselee, in this case, is looking for someone to affirm their beliefs and help them work through the troubles or for someone who can help them leave this lifestyle for a new one. Wouldn’t Ms. Keeton be better equipped for this latter need than a practicing homosexual counselor?
If only news outlets had the money these days to send reporters out to put together such “Column One” inquiry features looking deeply at such questions as they emerge from real cases like this one.
July 28, 2010, at 2:57 pm
I’m going to go a bit against the grain here (don’t fall out of your chairs…) and suggest that identifying this student’s religious affiliation is not as important, as news, as describing her beliefs and how they might interact with her effectiveness as a counselor. Two basic rights are in conflict here, the student’s right to her religious beliefs and the institution’s right to determine what kind of person they will credential for counseling the public. One is mentioned in the First Amendment; the other is not but, as the Bill of Rights itself says, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I daresay the denominational ID of one party is not primary.
July 28, 2010, at 3:19 pm
Sorry to go AWOL. I posted this while awaiting a connecting flight and then got on a plane. Thank you for the comments.
Jake asked:
If the reporter knew the name of her home congregation, that would have been my preferred identifier, i.e., “Keeton, a member of the XYZ Church in City, State.” A bit of context on XYZ Church’s denominational affiliation and basic beliefs, either off a Web site or from an interview with a pastor or other leader, then would have been helpful.
I am for allowing sources to describe their beliefs, but especially in a national report, I think it’s incumbent to explain what “Christian” means, even if that’s how folks in a particular region refer to, for example, evangelical Protestants.
July 28, 2010, at 3:35 pm
Jerry said:
Her legal filing indicates she’s in a counseling program with the university’s School of Education. You’re right; that is relevant to the story, as typically a school counselor is required to work with all students. It’s not like someone doing marriage counseling with a private practice, where the therapist and potential clients have a chance to see if their goals for therapy are compatible.
Mollie said:
I question the accuracy of the story you linked to. The article said that the plaintiff “had refused to counsel homosexual clients,” while, at least according to the student, she hadn’t refused to counsel such students; she had refused only to affirm their homosexual behavior. The distinction is an important one.
It’s definitely an interesting issue. I’d like to know how counseling programs at universities sponsored by conservative denominations handle accreditation and similar situations where this issue may come up.
July 28, 2010, at 7:38 pm
What we really need to know is just what sort of degree she is aiming at and what the standards of the relevant professional organizations are. These organizations set the standards, and accredit, the programs that Universities offer. A university program must adhere to the professional criteria laid done by the accrediting organization. As the story Mollie linked to in the comments points out, the ethical standards of the National Association of Counselors do not permit anti-gay bias. As do the professional standards of virtually every professional counseling organization in North America.
By not explaining what degree she is pursuing and the standards required by the accrediting agency for that degree, we are left in the dark. The story is not helpful on the subject.
July 28, 2010, at 8:06 pm
The American Counseling Association has a statement about Orientation Change therapy:
http://www.counseling.org/PressRoom/NewsReleases.aspx?AGuid=b68aba97-2f08-40c2-a400-0630765f72f4
This is the professional milieu that the story takes place in. Explaining the situation would greatly clarify the situation.
July 29, 2010, at 11:03 am
Thank you so much for writing this. I agree with what you wrote. All indications from what I have read indicate Ms. Keeton is probably in fact not a “devout Christian”. It appears she took one biblical concept, in that homosexuality is wrong, and ran with it yet disregards all the other teachings of the bible. I can confidently make this claim simply on the fact that she is working on a master’s degree in psychology. If Ms. Keeton was in fact a devout Christian she would have realized within her first semester of psychology related courses that everything taught in psychology contradicts the theology of the Bible. I myself believe in the sufficiency of the Scriptures pertaining to everything for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). So if she was in fact a “devout Christian” she would have come to this conclusion then pursued an education in theology and perhaps leading to a career in biblical counseling. When I refer to biblical counseling I refer to that endorsed by http://www.nanc.org not what some may call biblical counseling where they try to mix psychology and Scripture.
July 29, 2010, at 11:45 am
Happily, neither you nor the newspaper reporting on the situtation gets to make that dermination for Ms. Keeton.
July 29, 2010, at 12:00 pm
Let’s turn that around, Dalea. Would a gay counselor be required to undergo conversion therapy for privately thinking that Evangelical Christians were wrong in their beliefs? Would that be considered an unacceptable bias by the NAC?
(Sorry for the digression from journalism.)
July 29, 2010, at 1:07 pm
Thanks, Jon. I was trying to think how to phrase that same sentiment.
July 29, 2010, at 1:44 pm
I write religion in Augusta but was out when this story broke. If it helps, I can tell you this:
The program she’s in awards a certificate for school counseling upon completion of the program.
To be licensed professionally, she’d have to complete the program, then three years of supervised practice, as well as passing the National Counselor Examination from the National Board for Certified Counselors.
As for her specific church membership, there are at least three answers to that question and with none of them confirmed, her own description of her beliefs stands unqualified.
July 29, 2010, at 2:04 pm
dalea said:
Copied verbatim:
“The ACA Governing Council passed a resolution in 1998 with respect to sexual orientation and mental health. This resolution specifically notes that ACA opposes portrayals of lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals as mentally ill due to their sexual orientation. In addition, the resolution supports dissemination of accurate information about sexual orientation, mental health and appropriate interventions and instructs counselors to “report research accurately and in a manner that minimizes the possibility that results will be misleading” (ACA Code of Ethics, 1995, Section G.3.b). In 1999, the Governing Council adopted a statement “opposing the promotion of reparative therapy as a cure for individuals who are homosexual.” In fact, according to the DSM-IV-TR, homosexuality is not a mental disorder in need of being changed. With this in mind, we have a difficult time discussing the appropriateness of conversion therapy as a treatment plan. Regardless, there are clients who seek out counselors in hopes of changing their sexual behaviors, orientation or identity, so the ACA Ethics Committee conducted a review of the literature on reparative therapy.”
What I don’t understand about the school’s position is that Ms. Keeton didn’t state that she was going to practice Orientation Change therapy and/or believed sexual orientation/homosexuality is a mental disorder in need of being changed. All she said is that she holds to Christian ethical convictions on matters of human sexuality and gender identity. She argues that her views, which hold that homosexual behavior is immoral and that homosexuality is a chosen lifestyle, would not interfere with her ability to provide competent counseling to gay men and lesbians.
So what’s the problem with the school’s position? It’s wrong. If Ms. Keeton take the stance that sexual orientation/homosexuality is not a mental disorder and that it’s a chosen lifestyle, and/or because of her beliefs she can’t/won’t provide help for possible future client herself she should have that right.
The fact that once she gets her master’s degree she may chooses not to practice in any particular type counseling shouldn’t have anything to do with her competence as a ACA credited counselor. In ACA own words the client doesn’t have a mental disorder. If a counselor feel that they can not help a client all they need to do is inform the client of that fact, refer the client to a counselor if they know of one that may be able to help them and/or provide all the information on the subject the counselor have or where/how to find the information the client in seeking.
As for fulfilling her requirements for her ACA credited master’s degree in psychology she must demonstrate that she has the competence to effectively counsel gay men and lesbians if this is a requirement at all, just like any other course requirements. IE: A history teacher doesn’t have to believe everything they learned during the time they’re studying for their degree in order to get their teaching degree, they just have to pass all the course requirements. Once they’re a teacher it’s up to the school to enforce what the teacher teaches. We all know that teachers should not let their own view interfere with their teachings and should teach according to how the school dictates but this is not always the case so we know teachers are not reprogrammed/brainwashed to renounce their beliefs in order to get their degree. So why should counselor be treated any different since they both provide a service to communities at large and teachers virtually impact just about every person in the world and counselors affects only a select few in comparison.
In my opinion the Augusta State University is stepping outside the realm of teaching/educating into the practice of reprogramming/brainwashing in order to force the belief/stick practice of a course on all students in order for that student to graduate. No mater how a course is tough or the course material it’s self, students/people will form/develop their own opinion and in many cases change the beliefs of a whole world and not in all cases ends up for the good of the would. Remember, we learn or should learn by our mistakes while practicing what we were tough and/or venturing beyond our learning by thing for ourselves.
Ask yourself where would be today if everyone was forced to believe that the world was FLAT, or the their was no such thing as Evolution of Man.
July 29, 2010, at 5:00 pm
This is a short piece I wrote last year for CT that may or may not provide some insight on evangelical therapists: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/october/1.10.html
July 30, 2010, at 1:31 am
By not delving into what the professional standards are, the story has confused the issue. As John posted @20:
The story here is not about Ms Keeton and what she wants and believes. The story should cover what the professional standards are for this type of work and ask if Ms Keeton’s announced views are compatible with them. The issue with the school is really secondary because the school must abide by professional standards.
July 30, 2010, at 7:02 am
Re: #20 and counselors v. teachers: I think the dynamic is totally different. Teachers’ impact may be broader unless they really get involved in an individual’s life, to the extent perhaps that a counselor or therapist does.
Re: #15 and biblical counseling: talk about a can of worms! There are at least 5 different views of the interface of psychology and Christianity, and while I am sympathetic to Brian’s post, I think it is overreaching to state the state of her belief.
I’m amazed on what I perceive is such an “inside baseball” blog that one of the first posters states he attends church with the person being reported on! Perhaps I need to repent!
July 30, 2010, at 7:22 am
BJ,
Thank you for gracing us with your presence on our little “Inside Baseball” blog. You’d be surprised how many readers out there have a strong interest in fair, accurate reporting on religion. You’d also be surprised how often people close to the news leave comments. We are just that popular. Or maybe there’s a neat little tool called Google News that alerts folks to reports on certain subjects. You are welcome to repent of your sarcasm, and please keep comments focused on the media coverage/journalistic issues.
July 30, 2010, at 12:17 pm
I have a masters degree in counselling and have had to provide counselling services to people with whom I have had fundamental disagreements on core beliefs. This is part of the job. As part of professional ethics in counseling, if your beliefs do not allow you to provide services to an individual you refer them to another counselor.
Ms. Keeton states that she feels she can provide effective counseling to gay and lesbian clients. If she can provide effective counseling to gay and lesbian clients, it does not matter what her personal opinion of their sexual orientation is. It is no different than a staunch Liberal Democrat providing counseling services to an arch Conservative Republican. They may disagree profoundly, but as long as political views are not the subject of counseling, they are not relevant.
It is worth asking if the school would be responding in the same way if Ms. Keeton had stated that she felt heterosexually was immoral and a lifestyle choice. Certainly there are strident voices in the homosexual community that are strongly biased against heterosexuals. Should they be excluded from graduate programs in counseling as well?
July 30, 2010, at 4:30 pm
David, the example I thought of after the fact would be a vegetarian counselor. Would she be unable to counsel meat-eaters effectively because of her moral opinions of carnivory?