Former MSU Grad Student Sues After Removal From Program

A former Missouri State University graduate student has filed a lawsuit accusing the university of kicking him out of a master’s program after he said counseling gay couples violated his religious beliefs. In the lawsuit filed Tuesday, Andrew Cash said he was removed from the master’s counseling program in 2014, three years after he told a professor he would not counsel gay couples because of his religious beliefs. The Springfield News-Leader reports the lawsuit claims the university denied Cash’s rights to religion and free speech and names the university’s board of governors and other school officials as defendants. A Missouri State University spokesperson said in an email Friday that the university “strictly prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion or any other protected class.”