Michael Loos
LITTLE ROCK – A rule allowing counselors in Arkansas to refer patients to another provider over religious objections to treating them won initial approval Tuesday, sparking criticism that the move could deny mental health services to gay and lesbian people.
A subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council endorsed the rule change proposed by the state Board of Examiners in Counseling, which regulates 2,800 counselors and marriage and family therapists in the state.
Michael Loos, the board’s executive director, said the rule change was partly aimed at preventing Arkansas from enacting a more far-reaching law like one recently approved in Tennessee. That measure, signed into law in April, allows counselors to refuse to treat patients based on the therapist’s religious or personal beliefs.
“I don’t think this is as big a deal as it could be, but we want to be prepared to take charge and be responsible for it if it becomes an issue,” Loos, who said the board so far hasn’t had any complaints over the issue, told reporters.
The rule would allow counselors and therapists to refer a patient to someone else over sincerely held “ethical, moral or religious principles” but only after careful consideration and consultation, and only if the counselor is unable to effectively serve the client. It also says counselors cannot abandon someone who seeks assistance.
Counselors would not face sanctions for referring current or prospective patients, according to the rule change. Loos said the board would handle any complaints over a referral over the conscience provision, and would question counselors on what steps they had taken to address their objections rather than send patients elsewhere.
“(The patients) came for whatever their issue is, so what have you done about being able to work with them?” he said. “That’s the question the board will ask.”
Sarah Warbelow with the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBT rights group, called the rule change “extremely disappointing” especially after the widespread criticism over Tennessee’s law. She said the rule change doesn’t include exemptions for emergencies or for LGBT youth who aren’t out.
“It puts LGBT people at risk for not being able to receive the counsel and care they need,” Warbelow, the group’s legal director, said.
Tennessee’s law prompted the American Counseling Association, which had criticized the measure as a “hate bill,” to cancel a conference it planned in Nashville next year. The group did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Arkansas’ proposed rule change. The proposal is expected to go Friday before the full Legislative Council, the Legislature’s main governing body when lawmakers aren’t in session.
The association’s director of governmental affairs told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in April the group was “perplexed and concerned” about the Arkansas proposal and was reviewing it.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas also criticized the rule, calling it a “green light” for counselors to turn away patients because of their religious beliefs.
“This rule is about using religion to discriminate, plain and simple, to discriminate and to put a client in harm’s way_both of which are in opposition to the mandate of mental health professionals,” Rita Sklar, the group’s executive director, said in a statement.
The Arkansas rule is advancing more than a year after Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed into law a religious objections measure that he asked lawmakers to revise over criticism the initial version was discriminatory.
Jerry Cox, president of the conservative Arkansas Family Council, said his group hadn’t been looking at pushing for a law similar to Tennessee’s regarding counselor referrals but said he believed the new rule was a good idea.
“It’s good to see governing bodies align their policies with the religious freedom law we have and maybe with the other conscience protection laws,” Cox said.
(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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