University of Louisville agreed to pay almost $1.6 million in a lawsuit brought by Dr. Allan Josephson, a child psychiatrist who was fired for saying children with sexual identity confusion should not be treated with experimental, irreversible, body-damaging drugs, hormones and surgeries.
The settlement came six years after Josephson filed a lawsuit against the school because “the university demoted, harassed and ultimately fired [him] for speaking out on the harms of ‘transitioning’ children,” as Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) explained in a press release.
It’s an important win for free speech and academic freedom.
Dr. Josephson responded to the victory, saying,
I’m glad to finally receive vindication for voicing what I know is true. Children deserve better than life-altering procedures that mutilate their bodies and destroy their ability to lead fulfilling lives.
In spite of the circumstances I suffered through with my university, I’m overwhelmed to see that my case helped lead the way for other medical practitioners to see the universal truth that altering biological sex is impossibly dangerous while acceptance of one’s sex leads to flourishing.
As reported by the Daily Citizen, Dr. Josephson was fired for running afoul of transgender activists after speaking in his personal capacity at a 2017 Heritage Foundation symposium, “Gender Dysphoria in Children: Understanding the Science and Medicine.”
He opposed so-called gender-affirming treatments which affirm a child’s sexual identity confusion, moving them along a trajectory toward harmful, disfiguring medical interventions like puberty blockers, opposite-sex hormones and surgeries. Instead, he advocated for compassionate, healing care for sexually confused children.
Josephson became a medical doctor in 1976 and was certified as a psychiatrist in 1982. The author and co-author of more than 42 articles and 24 books or book chapters, he had served more than thirty-five years at three state universities and never been the subject of any disciplinary action. He was hired in 2003 to head the University of Louisville’s Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology. ADF says he received excellent evaluations and “turned the division around, building a program that now has a national reputation.”
Speaking at the Heritage symposium, Dr. Josephson said, “Gender dysphoria is a socio-cultural, psychological phenomenon, and cannot be fully addressed through medicine and surgery. Using these methods raises concerns that the real issue is not being treated.”
He went on to explain, “When someone complains of pain, medical professionals generally seek to understand what causes the pain. When that inquiry is not allowed in the gender dysphoria context, the well-being of children is short-circuited, preventing us from diagnosing pain accurately, and an opportunity for developmental progress is missed.”
In response, as ADF stated:
University officials – responding to demands from activists at the university’s LGBT Center – demoted him to the role of a junior faculty member and stripped him of his teaching duties. University officials then conspired to get him fired. …
In February 2019, the university announced that it would not renew his contract, terminating his employment at the university after nearly 15 years of distinguished service.
ADF filed a federal lawsuit on Dr. Josephson’s behalf, alleging that university officials violated his First Amendment rights, discriminating and retaliating against him because of his sensible, compassionate approach to children struggling with accepting their bodily sex.
The lawsuit stated that, as a participant in the symposium, Dr. Josephson spoke the truth about key issues regarding children’s sexual identity confusion, such as:
The notion that gender identity should trump chromosomes, hormones, internal reproductive organs, external genitalia, and secondary sex characteristics when classifying individuals as such is counter to medical science.
Children persistently, insistently, and consistently demand many things that are not good for them. A parent’s role is to resist these demands when parental wisdom trumps children’s limited life experience.
The University of Louisville fought the complaint, but in 2024 an appeals court ruled in Josephson’s favor, saying his case against university officials who violated his freedom of speech could move forward.
The school finally decided to settle rather than keep on fighting.
ADF Senior Counsel Travis Barham said of the agreement, saying, “After several years, free speech and common sense have scored a major victory on college campuses.”
As early as 2014, Dr. Josephson saw the truth behind dangerous procedures that activists were pushing on children struggling with their sex. He risked his livelihood and reputation to speak the truth boldly, and the university punished him for expressing his opinion – ultimately by dismissing him. But public universities have no business punishing professors simply because they hold different views.
Barham explained that Dr. Josephson’s views have been vindicated by “the latest and best science,” which confirms that medicalizing a mental disorder is harmful. He stated:
Hopefully, other public universities will learn from this that if they violate the First Amendment, they can be held accountable, and it can be very expensive.
Related Articles and Resources:
Child Psychiatrist Wins Free Speech Victory – Case Moves Forward
Counseling for Sexual Identity Concerns: A Measured, Careful, and Compassionate approach
Expert in ‘Transitioning’ Children Admits ‘We Were Wrong’ About Puberty Blockers
Focus on the Family: Transgender Resources
Helping Children with Gender Identity Confusion
Important New Journal Article Calls Out Doctors for Harming Youth with Medicalized Gender Ideology
New Video Equips Parents and Counselors to Help ‘Gender Dysphoric’ Children
Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria – Researcher’s Work Vindicated
U.K.’s Review of Child Gender Policy Reveals Profound Failures That U.S. Still Defends
Image credit: ADF
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