Oregon has been going after Christian counselors who won't affirm the Left's political agenda.
Now one counselor's case just blew up in Oregon's face.
Then the state quietly did something to the case that it never announced — and never explained.
Oregon Used Its Licensing Board to Punish a Christian Counselor for His Faith
Frank Canepa is a licensed Catholic counselor in Oregon who kept his faith entirely out of his practice – for two and a half years and through at least 44 sessions where the topic of his client's same-sex relationship came up.
He never brought it up. He never pushed back. He just did his job.
Then came the session where his client decided that wasn't enough.
She pressed him for 20 straight minutes – not asking for guidance, not exploring her feelings, but demanding that Canepa personally affirm her relationship and bless her decision to be in it.
He redirected. She pressed harder. He redirected again. When she still wouldn't let it go, he finally told her the truth: his Catholic faith prevented him from giving her the personal endorsement she was after.
She filed a complaint with the Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists.
The board investigated and hit Canepa with an $89,636 fine – every dollar of it representing the cost of his own disciplinary hearing – plus a mandatory order to undergo six hours of re-education.
The charge? He "imposed" his values by answering a direct question the client pressed for 20 straight minutes.
The Supreme Court's Religious Freedom Ruling Left Oregon Nowhere to Hide
In March 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down an 8-1 decision in Chiles v. Salazar – a Colorado case with the same fingerprints.
Justice Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion, with only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissenting. The ruling was direct: states cannot use licensing power to silence viewpoints in the counseling room.
Alliance Defending Freedom had already filed Canepa's appeal with the Oregon Court of Appeals when Chiles landed. ADF Senior Counsel Jonathan Scruggs put Oregon on notice immediately.
"The Supreme Court recently took Colorado to task for censoring counselors and mandating orthodoxy in the counselor's office," Scruggs said. "Oregon should take notice."
Oregon noticed.
On May 12, the board notified the court it had withdrawn its final order assessing costs against Canepa. On June 5, it withdrew the underlying notice of proposed disciplinary action as well.
No press release, explanation, or acknowledgment that the state had just spent years and nearly $90,000 worth of proceedings trying to punish a man for answering a question.
Alliance Defending Freedom Exposed Oregon's First Amendment Trap
Logan Spena, legal counsel for ADF's Center for Free Speech, cut straight to it. "The Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment protects counselors and that the government cannot attempt to punish counselors for answering a client's question about a counselor's view on a subject."
The Standing for Freedom Center's Dillon Burroughs nailed what Oregon was actually running. Oregon didn't punish Canepa because it hated Catholics. It punished him because it had an official, state-approved position on what licensed counselors were permitted to believe – and his honest answer departed from that position. The state had turned its licensing system into a speech enforcement tool.
That's the playbook running in more than 22 states and over 100 local governments that have enacted similar restrictions on licensed counselors.
Refuse to affirm the state's preferred position on sexual behavior and gender ideology, and the government destroys your career. The Chiles ruling just stripped that weapon out of their hands.
This wasn't about protecting a vulnerable client from an abusive therapist. Canepa answered a question after 20 minutes of persistent pressure – having never lectured her, never refused to keep seeing her, never opened a Bible in the room. The only thing that separated a $90,000 fine from no consequences at all was which direction his answer pointed.
ADF will keep fighting these cases in every state where licensing boards are being used as speech police. Oregon folded without a word. Twenty-two other states are watching – and ADF is already on its way.
Sources:
- Alliance Defending Freedom, "Following ADF appeal, Oregon board withdraws nearly $90K fine on Christian counselor," ADF Legal, June 18, 2026.
- ADF Media, "Canepa v. Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists," ADF Media, May 1, 2026.
- John Kruzel, "Oregon Counselor Case Tests Supreme Court Free Speech Ruling," Standing for Freedom Center, June 16, 2026.
- Ryan Lovelace, "Supreme Court rules for therapist who refused to affirm client's gender identity," Washington Examiner, March 31, 2026.
- Bob Unruh, "Censoring counselors: Oregon scheme to control therapists' speech under fire," WorldNetDaily, May 1, 2026.
- John Solomon, "Oregon suddenly backs down on $90K fine on Christian therapist for not blessing gay relationship," Just the News, June 17, 2026.
