A U.S. district judge has heard arguments in a case involving a graduate student in Michigan who was dismissed from a counseling program for not affirming homosexual behavior.

In January 2009, Julea Ward enrolled in a counseling practicum course at Eastern Michigan University. During the course she was assigned a potential client seeking assistance regarding a homosexual relationship. Jeremy Tedesco with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) tells OneNewsNow that Ward knew she could not affirm the client's homosexual relationship without violating her religious beliefs -- and that stance cost her dearly.

"Our client explained very clearly to [university officials] that this is a matter of religious belief and conviction -- and they discarded that and said 'We don't care, we're going to kick you out anyways. We have no interest in accommodating your religious beliefs. You just need to believe like we do or we're going to kick you out of the program'"...