{"id":2615521,"date":"2026-06-18T09:06:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/christian-therapist-beats-state-of-oregon-will-not-have-to-pay-eye-watering-fine-for-standing-by-christian-beliefs\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T09:08:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:08:00","slug":"christian-therapist-beats-state-of-oregon-will-not-have-to-pay-eye-watering-fine-for-standing-by-christian-beliefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/christian-therapist-beats-state-of-oregon-will-not-have-to-pay-eye-watering-fine-for-standing-by-christian-beliefs\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian Therapist Beats State of Oregon, Will Not Have to Pay Eye-Watering Fine for Standing By Christian Beliefs"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">36<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fchristian-therapist-beats-state-of-oregon-will-not-have-to-pay-eye-watering-fine-for-standing-by-christian-beliefs%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2615521&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A Roman Catholic therapist, Frank canepa, faced a threat of a $90,000 fine from Oregon&#8217;s licensing board for refusing to endorse a client&#8217;s same-sex relationship, citing his religious beliefs. The board disciplined him,but the fine and disciplinary actions were later rescinded after legal challenges and a Supreme Court ruling in favor of a Colorado therapist who refused to affirm <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/shrier-why-girls-become-boys\/\" title=\"Shrier: Why Girls Become Boys\">gender confusion<\/a> in minors. The Supreme Court&#8217;s decision affirmed that counselors are protected by the First Amendment and cannot be forced to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/meet-the-senior-cia-official-who-posted-pro-palestinian-images-to-social-media\/\" title=\"Introducing the CIA Official Advocating for Palestine on Social Media\">express views contrary<\/a> to their beliefs. Advocates argue that Oregon&#8217;s actions represent an overreach and could set a risky precedent by punishing dissenting opinions on moral or religious grounds. The <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >case highlights ongoing conflicts<\/a> between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/states-push-to-rein-in-big-tech-as-federal-gears-grind-slow\/\" title=\"States Push to Rein in Big Tech as Federal Gears Grind Slow\">free speech rights<\/a> and governmental regulation of professional conduct related to sexuality and religion.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><br \/>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\"><br \/>\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><html><body><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>A Roman Catholic therapist who refused to bow to the LGBT altar is no longer being threatened with a $90,000 fine for being true to his beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>Frank Canepa ran afoul of Oregon\u2019s rules when he refused to get all gushy over a client\u2019s same-sex relationship, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/justthenews.com\/nation\/free-speech\/oregon-suddenly-backs-down-90k-fine-christian-therapist-not-blessing-gay\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Just the News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Oregon\u2019s Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists decided that standing up instead of bowing down required a hefty dose of discipline, and whacked Canepa with a $90,000 fine. The penalty and the disciplinary notice that went with it have both been rescinded.<\/p>\n<p>Then came a March ruling from the Supreme Court that cut the legs out from under Oregon by ruling in favor of a Colorado therapist, Kaley Chiles, who did not fall into line with state thinking by saying minor clients suffered from gender confusion.<\/p>\n<p>During a counseling session with a client Canepa had seen for more than two years, he refused to support her same-sex relationship, as noted by a news release from the <a href=\"https:\/\/adflegal.org\/press-release\/following-adf-appeal-oregon-board-withdraws-nearly-90k-fine-on-christian-counselor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alliance Defending Freedom<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Canepa explained that his faith would not allow him to do what his client wanted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government can\u2019t target counselors for their views and force people to say things that go against their core convictions,\u201d ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of Litigation Strategy Jonathan Scruggs said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Supreme Court recently took Colorado to task for censoring counselors and mandating orthodoxy in the counselor\u2019s office, and Oregon should take notice. ADF will continue to ensure that free speech is protected in Oregon \u2014 and every state where it\u2019s threatened \u2014 and halt states\u2019 attempts to weaponize their licensure systems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Although Canepa tried to avoid passing judgment on his client\u2019s relationship, the client persisted until he finally told her what he believed was not compatible with what she was doing.<\/p>\n<p>For that, the Oregon board said Canepa violated Oregon law and the American Counseling Association\u2019s Code of Ethics. In addition to the fine, he was ordered to undergo six hours of education.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment protects counselors and that the government cannot then attempt to punish counselors for answering a client\u2019s question about a counselor\u2019s view on a subject,\u201d Logan Spena, legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom\u2019s Center for Free Speech, said, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statesmanjournal.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2026\/05\/30\/oregon-board-religious-freedom-lawsuit\/90224518007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Statesman-Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The ADF had argued that Oregon violated Canepa\u2019s First Amendment rights to free speech and free exercise of religion.<\/p>\n<p>In a post from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.standingforfreedom.com\/2026\/06\/16\/oregon-counselor-case-supreme-court-free-speech\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Standing for Freedom Center<\/a>, author Dillon Burroughs noted that there was more at stake in the case than one person.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s important to point out that Oregon didn\u2019t overtly fine Canepa because of his Christian faith. Its reasoning is simpler but still indefensible: The state has an official position on what <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-skeptical-of-colorados-conversion-therapy-ban\/\" title=\"Supreme Court skeptical of ...&#039;s &#039;conversion therapy&#039; ban\">licensed counselors<\/a> can and cannot say about sexuality and relationships,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn other words, it openly admits it punished Canepa because his answer departed from its official state-sanctioned orthodoxy \u2014 and officials insist that stance is perfectly justified,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven Americans who disagree with Canepa\u2019s beliefs should recognize the danger of a state insisting it has the authority to decide the \u2018right\u2019 beliefs,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA government that can punish a counselor for declining to affirm one contested viewpoint today can punish a different professional for dissenting from another official viewpoint tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f7f7f7; color: #171717; display: flex;font-size: 16px;font-weight: 600;line-height: 1.5;margin: 24px 0;padding: 18px 20px 18px 30px;text-align: left;\">\n<div style=\"align-self: stretch;border-left: 3px solid #171717;flex-shrink: 0;padding-left: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<p><a style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/\">Choose The Western Journal as your preferred source on Google and never miss reporting that defends truth, protects freedom, and advances Western civilization<\/a><\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey == typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts = { \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs = [ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i = 0; i < inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]] = document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display = 'block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display = 'none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src = firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display = 'inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id'] = firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting = jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display = 'none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display = 'block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/body><\/html><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Catholic therapist no longer faces a $90K fine for upholding his beliefs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2615522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ben-net-44.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[5695,33335,81365,32274,6940],"class_list":["post-2615521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-christianity","tag-legal-victory","tag-oregon-rights","tag-religious-freedom","tag-therapy"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ben-net-44.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2615521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2615521"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2615521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2615526,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2615521\/revisions\/2615526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2615522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2615521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2615521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2615521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}