MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – A religious organization that runs two facilities that counsel gays to give up homosexuality has sued the state, claiming it is violating its religious freedom by requiring a license to care for mentally ill patients.

Love In Action International Inc., based in Memphis, is being represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based Christian legal firm that is also representing Tennessee lawmakers in a suit brought by the ACLU regarding a proposed same-sex marriage referendum.

The suit names Gov. Phil Bredesen and officials with the state Department of Mental Health & Developmental Disabilities and claims that Love In Action does not offer any treatment requiring state licensure and that the state is discriminating against the ministry because of its controversial religious mission.

The department determined after a pair of inspections in July and August that Love In Action was providing housing, meals and personal care for mentally ill patients without a license.

The department gave Love In Action until Sept. 30 to cease operation of the facilities and apply for a state license.

“LIA’s ministry is not designed to treat mental illness, nor do they make any attempt to treat mental illness,” the suit says, although the facilities do accept mentally ill patients who are deemed “able to take care of themselves.”

The ministry confirms that prescription medications are kept in a central location, but only to deter theft or tampering. It allows patients access to their medications at all times to be taken as directed by their own physicians, the suit claims.

“LIA does not supervise or oversee how the medication is dispensed,” the suit says.

Under state regulations, facilities that dispense medication to patients require a license.

Love In Action’s stated mission is “the prevention or remediation of unhealthy and destructive behaviors facing families, adults and adolescents,” including promiscuity, pornography and homosexuality.

That has drawn the ire of many gay rights advocates, which Love In Action claims were instrumental in getting the state to inspect the facility and push for its closing.

“This issue has nothing to do with religion or faith-based organizations or even the mission of Love In Action,” said state spokesperson Lola Potter.

Potter said the state is justified in requiring the facility to be licensed based on three criteria: Love In Action had two people who had been clinically diagnosed with mental illnesses; the facility was administering their medication; and they were in a restricted living arrangement, unable to come and go as they pleased.

The suit was filed Sept. 30 in U.S. District Court in Memphis.