Gay-counseling
ministry sues state
over license
requirement
By AP from
southernstandard.net on the Web, October 2, 2005
MEMPHIS -- A religious
organization that runs two facilities that counsel gays to give up homosexuality
has sued the state, claiming it is violating its religious freedom by requiring
a license to care for mentally ill patients.
Love In Action International Inc., based in Memphis, is being represented by the
Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based Christian legal firm that is also
representing Tennessee lawmakers in a suit brought by the ACLU regarding a
proposed gay marriage referendum.
The suit names Gov. Phil Bredesen and officials with the state Department of
Mental Health & Developmental Disabilities and claims that Love In Action does
not offer any treatment requiring state licensure and that the state is
discriminating against the ministry because of its controversial religious
mission.
The department determined after a pair of inspections in July and August that
Love In Action was providing housing, meals and personal care for mentally ill
patients without a license.
The department gave Love In Action until Friday to cease operation of the
facilities and apply for a state license.
"LIA's ministry is not designed to treat mental illness, nor do they make any
attempt to treat mental illness," the suit says, although the facilities do
accept mentally ill patients who are deemed "able to take care of themselves."
The ministry confirms that prescription medications are kept in a central
location, but only to deter theft or tampering. It allows patients access
to their medications at all times to be taken as directed by their own
physicians, the suit claims.
"LIA does not supervise or oversee how the medication is dispensed," the suit
says.
Under state regulations, facilities that dispense medication to patients require
a license.
Love In Action's stated mission is "the prevention or remediation of unhealthy
and destructive behaviors facing families, adults and adolescents," including
promiscuity, pornography and homosexuality.
That has drawn the ire of many gay rights advocates, which Love In Action claims
were instrumental in getting the state to inspect the facility and push for its
closing.
"This issue has nothing to do with religion or faith-based organizations or even
the mission of Life In Action," state spokeswoman Lola Potter said Friday.
Potter said the state is justified in requiring the facility to be licensed
based on three criteria: Life In Action had two people who had been
clinically diagnosed with mental illnesses; the facility was administering their
medication; and they were in a restricted living arrangement, unable to come and
go as they pleased.
The suit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Memphis.
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