Brody's Notes... Anti-Gay Graduate Student Files Federal Lawsuit-Alleges ASU Violated Civil Rights

Jennifer Keeton  Photo From Facebook

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) July 26 | Last Thursday July 22nd, the Scottsdale, Arizona based Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom's senior counsel David French, announced that the ADF had filed a lawsuit on behalf of Jennifer Keeton, an Augusta State University, Georgia graduate student. According to the ADF press release: 

"Jennifer’s counseling professors have told her she must change her Christian beliefs to graduate, told her that she cannot share her faith with students even outside of class, and have imposed impossibly vague speech codes on her in an effort to implement a comprehensive program of thought reform.  You can read Jennifer’s Complaint and her Preliminary Injunction Motion to learn more."

The ADF also released the following video:

 
Keeton VNR from ADF Media Relations on Vimeo.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's  Laura Diamond reported that the university has not been served with the lawsuit and officials declined to comment on the case, spokeswoman Kathy Schofe said Friday. She did say that the university does not discriminate and has policies in place to protect students if they believe they have been discriminated against.

French's press release statement also stated that; 

"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," David French, senior counsel for the defense fund, said in a news release. "Abandoning one’s own religious beliefs should not be a precondition at a public university for obtaining a degree."

Keeton, 24, is pursuing her master’s degree in counseling at Augusta State and after learning of her strongly held beliefs, faculty members allegedly assailed Keeton’s beliefs as i"nconsistent with the counseling profession" and according to the ADF Lawsuit, " expressed suspicion over “Jen’s ability to be a multiculturally competent counselor, particularly with regard to working with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (GLBTQ) populations.” 

The ADF is a a coalition of Christian attorneys and has filed similar lawsuits in Michigan, Missouri, and more recently intervened in a case involving remarks by a university professor in Illinois.