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The Tennessee state Senate on Monday considered a bill that would allow counselors to discriminate against LGBT students, sexually-active students or anyone else based on religious objections.

Republican state Sen. Joey Hensley encouraged fellow senators to pass SB 514 to "prevent an institution of high education from discriminating against a student in the counseling, social worker, psychology programs because of their religious beliefs."

According the The Tennessean, the bill was inspired by Julea Ward, a Christian student who was expelled from Eastern Michigan after she refused to "engage in gay-affirming counseling" by helping an LGBT student who wanted to be treated for depression in 2009. Arizona has already passed a law based on the case. Similar bills have also been proposed by lawmakers in Michigan and Georgia.

Hensley's bill would protect any student who "refuses to counsel or serve a client as to goals, outcomes, or behaviors that conflict with a sincerely held religious belief."

State Rep. John J. DeBerry Jr., who had been a defender of Tennessee's so-called "don't say gay" bill barring the discussion of homosexuality in schools, has introduced a version of Hensley's bill in the state House. Both bills were written with the help of the conservative Family Action Council of Tennessee.

Jake Morris, the head of the counseling program at the Nashville-based Christian Lipscomb University, told The Tennessean that he objected to the bills because student counselors needed to be available to treat all clients.

"I want my students to be able to help anyone who walks in their door," he explained. "For example, if a student thinks divorce is sinful, that student still needs to know how to treat clients who have gone through a divorce."

"We are health care professionals," Morris added. “We need to act like it.”

The New Civil Rights Movement's David Badash observed that the bill seemed to be using religion as a "door to hide and cower behind."

"The concept of so-called 'religious liberty' as it’s being (mis)used is faulty," Badash wrote on Tuesday. "If anti-gay people want a reason to not help gay people, they should have the personal courage to do so, and accept the consequences."

The Tennessee state Senate tabled discussion of SB 514 until next Thursday to give senators a chance to discuss amendments. A House subcommittee was expected to consider DeBerry's version of the bill on Tuesday.

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You've got to wonder about the intelligence, or at the very least the lack of common sense of some people currently running for Congress. Call it the "Sarah Palin Effect", or maybe she's just a symptom of a disease that was there long before her ascent. And it is true that many rank-and-file Republicans find such posts as this one completely innocent and non-threatening, so much so they've become "normal". Whatever your take on this incident itself, many non-Republicans take a dim view of all this, and see it as a cancer in that party that just keeps growing.

via The Tennessean. News report by WKRN, Nashville.

A candidate who's seeking to represent Nashville in Congress posted a photo of his gun and a pointed message for President Barack Obama on his campaign Facebook page.

Brad Staats, the Republican nominee challenging U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper in the 5th Congressional District election, posted the picture of the silver and black Colt 911 semi-automatic pistol on Friday. Under it he wrote:

"Many people in Tennessee keep asking me about my opinion on Second Amendment rights. Apparently Tennesseans are part of that crazy crowd that Obama says 'cling to (their) religion and guns.' Well, then I must be part of that crazy crowd. Here is something that I usually have with me. Welcome to Tennessee Mr. Obama."
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Staats said he was not threatening Obama, who is seeking re-election this year.

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Norah O'Donnell asks Vision America and Tea Party Convention sponsor Rick Scarborough if he's got any problem with Sarah Palin profiting from her speaking engagement at the National Tea Party Convention and the fact that she is using her PAC money to buy copies of her book rather than contribute to candidates.

Of course Scarborough just trusts Palin completely and doesn't see any problem with what she's doing. I don't think I've seen this much spin out of anyone on the talking head shows on cable news in a long time. When these Tea Bag Party protesters are going to wake up to being taken for a ride by the Republicans and Palin who's lining her pocket is beyond me. I doubt it's any time soon if they all just keep watching ClusterFox for their "news".

O’Donnell: But what I’m raising questions with you as someone who feels so strongly about this is whether the Tea Party is actually a movement for change of if it’s one where people are making a personal profit off of some people who want to make change. Let me just show you, Think Progress which of course is a progressive organization has reported that the event organizers of the Tea Party Express manager and Republican public relations firm Russo, Marsh and Rogers has padded its pocket with over one million dollars in money raised by the Tea Party group. Does that concern you that funds by people who want change are being used to pad consultants rather than to elect people that you want to change Washington?

Scarborough: Once again Norah I’m not here to defend or deny; I don’t have enough information to even make a judgement on those kinds of things but what I can say to you is that I am going to invest my time and energy and any finances that people are gracious to give me to do it to find as many Christians, as many concerned Americans as I can, inform them of what the issues are and get them to the polls to vote in the primaries and finally in the election in the fall and I’m grateful for this opportunity to look anybody that will listen in the eye and say hey join us. Join us for the cause of changing America.

O’Donnell: I know but Dr. Scarborough the points that I’m trying to ask is because of this for profit nature of the very event that you’re at, Michele Bachmann who’s been called the leader of the Tea Party movement or one of the leaders is not going to show up. Marsha Blackburn is not showing up. So there are already some issues that may prevent you from having the very people you need to carry out your revolution.

Scarborough: Sure…yeah. It won’t keep me from carrying out mine because both of them are allies and what we do and stand for the values we hold dear, as you I trust know, Democrats and the majority that sit in Congress right now are filing all manner of investigations upon anyone on the conservative side. There are legal issues that have been raised and even if these folks like Sarah Palin find in the course of law that they’re right it costs them hundreds of thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of distraction to prove their innocence so I fully understand why some of these conservative Congressmen pulled out. They’re not opposed to this. They just don’t want the hassle that ethics committees in Congress will cause them. I don’t have the struggle so here I am.