Memphis, USA - A religious organization that runs two facilities that counsel gays to give up homosexuality has sued the state in federal court, claiming Tennessee is violating the group's religious freedom by requiring a license to care for mentally ill patients.
The suit claims that Love In Action Inc., based in Memphis, offers no treatment requiring state licensure and alleges the state is discriminating against the ministry because of its controversial religious mission. The state denies the group's claim.
The state Department of Mental Health & Developmental Disabilities, which is being sued along with Gov. Phil Bredesen, determined after inspections that Love In Action was providing housing, meals and personal care for mentally ill patients. The department gave Love In Action until the end of September to cease operation and apply for a permit.
The organization said in its suit, filed last week, that the ministry accepts mentally ill patients who are deemed ''able to take care of themselves,'' but does not treat mental illness. Prescription medications are kept in a central location, but only to deter theft or tampering, and patients are allowed access to their medications at all times to be taken as directed by their own physicians, the group says.
Under state regulations, facilities that dispense medication to patients require a license.
Love In Action's mission is ''the prevention or remediation of unhealthy and destructive behaviors facing families, adults and adolescents,'' including promiscuity, pornography and homosexuality.