NASHVILLE (AP) — The Senate has approved legislation that would protect student counselors at public higher education institutions who withhold their services because of religious beliefs.

The measure passed Thursday 22-4. Republican Sen. Joey Hensley of Hohenwald sponsored the bill.

The legislation targets students in counseling, social work or psychology programs.

Hensley says he proposed the measure after a student at a Tennessee college was required to counsel someone who didn't agree with the counselor's "moral belief."

The proposal protects a counselor from disenrollment, and it allows the client to be referred to another counselor.

Hedy Weinberg is executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee. She says the legislation is discriminatory and undermines the ability of universities to train counselors in line with the mandates of their future profession.