Jennifer Keeton Files Federal Lawsuit Against Augusta State Univ. over Her Anti-Gay Views

Jennifer Keeton, an Augusta State University files federal lawsuit against the school for violating her rights over her anti-homosexual views.

Jennifer Keeton, a graduate student in counseling at Augusta State University, has filed a lawsuit against the school in federal court alleging that her constitutional rights were violated when the school demanded she work to change her views opposing homosexuality. Personally, I believe she is free to hold any belief she chooses but I don't blame the school for its actions. She would be a counselor in a setting in which she may come across someone who is a homosexual. How would she offer counseling to that person? When she applied for admission to the school, she was accepted, not because of her views but because of her credentials. The school isn't in the business of graduating people who won't be able to carry out all it has imparted to them because of their beliefs. The university is a public institution and cannot discriminate against one because of their sexual orientation. Ms. Keeton should either find another school that caters to her views or deal with it.

In a lawsuit filed last week in the U.S. District Court in Augusta, Ga., the student, Jennifer Keeton, alleges 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. Here's an excerpt from the press release by the Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing Jennifer Keeton in the lawsuit:

Augusta State ordered Keeton to undergo a re-education plan, in which she must attend “diversity sensitivity training,” complete additional remedial reading, and write papers to describe their impact on her beliefs. If she does not change her beliefs or agree to the plan, the university says it will expel her from the Counselor Education Program.

“A public university student shouldn’t be threatened with expulsion for being a Christian and refusing to publicly renounce her faith, but that’s exactly what’s happening here. Simply put, the university is imposing thought reform,” said ADF Senior Counsel David French. “Abandoning one’s own religious beliefs should not be a precondition at a public university for obtaining a degree. This type of leftist zero-tolerance policy is in place at far too many universities, and it must stop. Jennifer’s only crime was to have the beliefs that she does.”

Keeton, 24, is pursuing her master’s degree in counseling at Augusta State. After her professors learned of her biblical beliefs, specifically her views on homosexual conduct, from both classroom discussions and private conversations with other students, the school imposed the re-education plan. Keeton never denigrated anyone in communicating her beliefs but merely stated factually what they were in appropriate contexts.

To read the lawsuit, CLICK HERE. The question is how far will we go to force someone to share our views? Do you think Jennifer Keeton's rights were violated by the school?

UPDATE#1: From Fox News, A federal judge has ruled in favor of a public university that removed a Christian student from its graduate program in school counseling over her belief that homosexuality is morally wrong. Monday's ruling, according to Julea Ward's attorneys, could result in Christian students across the country being expelled from public university, Eastern Michigan University in this case, for similar views.