The Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists has fined licensed counselor Frank Canepa $89,636 for declining — once, after 44 sessions in which he never raised the subject — to personally bless a client’s same-sex relationship when she demanded it.
Canepa had seen the client for over two and a half years without ever mentioning his personal religious views on same-sex relationships. In one session, the client insisted for 20 minutes that Canepa personally affirm her same-sex relationship. He eventually told her he could not do so because of his Catholic faith. The Oregon board ruled this violated state law and the American Counseling Association’s Code of Ethics, ordering six hours of continuing education and requiring Canepa to pay the costs of his own disciplinary hearing — nearly $90,000.
Alliance Defending Freedom filed the opening brief in Canepa’s appeal to the Oregon Court of Appeals on May 4. ADF Senior Counsel Jonathan Scruggs stated: “The government can’t target counselors for their views and can’t force people to say things that go against their core convictions. The Supreme Court recently took Colorado to task for censoring counselors and mandating orthodoxy in the counselor’s office. Now, Oregon needs to learn the same First Amendment lesson.”
The ADF brief notes that just four weeks ago the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously affirmed in Chiles v. Salazar that First Amendment protections extend to licensed professional counselors as “much as they do everyone else.” Oregon’s licensing board has effectively imposed a compelled speech requirement — a counselor must personally affirm whatever a client demands, regardless of his faith, or face financial ruin. The Supreme Court has already spoken clearly on this question. Oregon needs to comply.
Discussion about this post