Graduate Student Faces Expulsion for Views on Homosexuality and Gender

by Marlow Gazzoli

Unsettling news from the great state of Georgia: apparently, opposing the orthodoxy on homosexuality and viewing gender as more than just a social invention precludes one from being a counselor in our multicultural world. Jennifer Keeton, 24, is studying for her master's degree in counseling at Augusta State University, and sued the University to prevent her expulsion. An excerpt from the story:

"The suit alleges the university retaliated against Keeton for stating her belief that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice and not a "state of being," and that gender is not a social construct subject to individual change. According to the suit, the school wants her to undergo a 'thought reform' program intended to change her religious beliefs. She faces expulsion unless she complies, and the suit seeks to block the university from throwing her out for noncompliance."

It seems to me that the faculty have a totally distorted view of what a counselor is. A counselor should not merely confirm his patient's choices and lifestyle out of some misguided respect for diversity. Rather, he is supposed to better the life of his patient, not just encourage him to do whatever he wants.

A doctor's purpose is to safeguard the health of his patient, not defer to his patient's views of what is or is not healthy. Absent an objective moral law and order, the counselor is merely an encourager of whatever life the counseled wants, a "life-coach." This is what we can expect in a world awash in relativism. "You can hold your own views but can't force them on others. Who is to say what is right? What is truth?"