Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Haslam signed a bill that will allow mental health counsellors or therapists to refuse services to patients according to the their religious and personal beliefs.
According to Times Colonist, Haslam said he went through an exhaustive process of talking to a lot of counsellors who think the bill is needed as well as those who don't. Supporters are saying that the bill protects the rights of therapists allowing them to refer patients to more appropriate counsellors.
Haslam added that the bill does not address a group, issue, or a belief system as it rather allows counsellors to turn down a patient "when the goals or behaviors would violate a sincerely held principle."
It was also reported that the bill does not allow counsellors to turn away patients who are in imminent danger of harming other people or themselves. Counsellors are also required to refer the patients, who have been turned down by them, to other therapists.
However, the American Counseling Association commented on the matter saying that it is an unprecedented attack on the counselling profession. They also said that Tennessee is the only state to pass such law. Other opponents claim that the legislation is a part of a series of bills around the nation that have been implemented in the recent weeks, legalizing the discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, NPR reported.
American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee executive director Hedy Weinberg also released a statement saying that the measure is "rooted in the dangerous misconception that religion can be used as a free pass to discriminate." Initially, the bill said that counsellors can refuse to treat patients based on religious grounds but it has been asked to be revised, Channel News Asia reported.
The Tennessee bill comes after North Carolina passed a law related to transgender bathroom usage. Mississippi also passed a law that allows businesses to turn away customers based on their religious beliefs.
