A leading child psychiatrist has won a lawsuit after he was suddenly fired over comments about gender dysphoria.
Dr. Allan Josephson, 72, was appointed chief of the department of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Louisville more than 20 years ago.
In 2017, Josephson expressed caution about gender treatment of children, leading to his resignation in 2019.
After facing a federal free speech lawsuit, the Kentucky school argued it had the right to fire Josephson over criticisms made during a Heritage Foundation panel discussion.
Lawyers for the university argued that his personal comments were related to his professional role at the medical school, thereby denying his First Amendment appeal.
Now that he has been acquitted, his message to academia is: “Tolerance is a two-way street.”
In 2017, Dr. Allan Josephson, 72, expressed caution about gender treatments for children, leading to his dismissal from the Kentucky school in 2019
The decorated academic was hired in 2003 to lead the University of Louisville’s department of child and adolescent psychiatry. He was fired in 2019. On Sept. 10, he won a federal lawsuit alleging he was wrongfully fired for speaking publicly about gender dysphoria.
‘Last year, in a case I brought against [the] “University of Louisville…because of the violation of my constitutional rights and the request for reinstatement to my position with back pay, a federal district court has ordered that a jury hear my claims,” Josephson wrote in an op-ed for the Daily Signal on Thursday.
“And on September 10, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit agreed.”
The former head of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology Department then quoted the verdict that acquitted him, after a lengthy trial that lasted more than a year.
At its height, lawyers ruled that ‘Josephson ha[d] demonstrated that he engaged in protected speech when he spoke as part of the Heritage Foundation panel.
“Defendants should have known that Josephson’s statements were protected and that retaliation against Josephson for his statements would violate his First Amendment rights,” the report said.
“The 6th Circuit recognized what the University of Louisville does not, namely that under our Constitution, all of us — professors or not — must be free to express our professional and personal opinions without fear of punishment or reprisal.”
However, that was exactly what the psychiatrist was told in the fall of 2017, after he had indicated that the cause of the ‘transgender’ confusion in children had to be investigated first and that emotional problems had to be resolved before risky treatments could be considered.
The statement came after Josephson was asked a “simple and timely” question on Thursday: “How do you best treat children with gender dysphoria?”
The Kentucky school argued it was within its rights to fire Josephson because of criticism aired during a 2017 Heritage Foundation panel (seen here)
He replied, “This is a socio-cultural psychological phenomenon, and the fact that we’re even talking about using drugs to solve it, um, I’m trying to remember – that’s kind of a joke.
“The guy who was looking for his wallet had lost his wallet – he had lost his wallet – and someone said, ‘Well, you lost it down the street. Why don’t you look over there?'” he continued.
He said, ‘Well, here’s the light.’
“The real problem is down there,” Josephson then stated, before pointing out the proverbial problem.
“I’m here for two reasons,” he insisted. “One, I’m committed to the idea that parents and children need help. And they’re not getting help because of this phenomenon.
“I’m not going to use the word abuse,” he continued, “but I want you to think for a moment about the idea of neglect.
‘[I’ll] “I’ll give you some examples of why this is a negligible phenomenon, where the developmental needs of children are neglected.”
“I’m also here because I think truth matters,” he explained. “There are some things that are just not true in the sociological phenomenon.”
The fall 2017 event was not affiliated with the school and featured experts like Josephson speaking about the phenomenon and the public’s response
He went on to say that “this thing has been [has] ‘had just sprung up like mushrooms’ before he read a statement from a licensed physician and discovered the matter.
The doctor, he said, wrote that “the costs of not assigning a gender are enormous” and that “it is against medical science to assign chromosomes, hormones, internal reproductive organs, external genitalia, [and] secondary sex characteristics to transcend gender identity for the purpose of classifying someone as male or female.
“Gender identity should be the determining factor when there is a need to classify an individual,” the doctor wrote, prompting Josephson to express disbelief.
“I was astonished when I read that,” he said – claiming that the claim was “contrary to medical science, chromosomes, anatomy, physiology, [and] genetics.’
“This is medical science,” he exclaimed. “This is how we categorize things. But shouldn’t that come second to this feeling, this idea of gender identity?
“Unbelievable,” he concluded.
For that reason, he was fired by the University of Louisville, after first being demoted from the department head position he had assumed in 2003 and relieved of his teaching duties.
In his piece for the Daily Signal, Josephson wrote how he had been “ostracized” and “subjected to other forms of hostility” as faculty members demanded he apologize for his positions on transgender issues, but he did not specify to whom.
Lawyers for the school had argued that Josephson’s personal comments related to his professional role at the university’s medical school and thus defeated his First Amendment claim. The argument did not convince the judge.
“Others remained silent because they knew which way the cultural wind was blowing,” Josephson recalls.
“I was shocked when I realized that I was actually being punished for doing what I was paid to do: think and speak.”
About a year later, the university refused to renew his contract — “effectively firing me,” he wrote Thursday.
“Professionally, I had strong reservations about this kind of transgender policy and I said so,” he continued.
‘That was after 14 successful years of rebuilding and leading the department, three years with perfect assessments, no disruptions to the work of the department and no problems in recruiting new teachers.
“I was not fired for poor management, poor teaching, or unprofessional conduct,” he continued. “The university terminated my career because I chose not to ride the current wave of social activism, because I expressed views – supported by scientific literature and clinical experience – that the university considered politically incorrect,
“In my case, activism was more important than academic thinking,” he declared.
“Worse, because of what it did to me, our university communicated to students and faculty things that should be unthinkable in higher education,” he continued. “Don’t ask questions and don’t listen to anyone with a different point of view.”
“I was not fired because of bad management, bad teaching or unprofessional behavior,” Josephson said after the victory. “The university ended my career because I chose not to ride the current wave of social activism.”
“These are about the worst lessons we can teach those who will one day lead our communities or care for vulnerable patients,” he concluded, days after winning the case.
Travis Barham, a senior attorney for the nonprofit group that represented Josephson, Alliance Defending Freedom, also celebrated the victory.
“Dr. Josephson had a long and successful career at the University of Louisville, where he led and rebuilt the child psychiatry program,” the attorney wrote in a statement.
‘In his spare time he spoke about treatments for children with sexual problems, and the university punished him for expressing his opinion.
“That is exactly what the First Amendment prohibits, and when public universities ignore the highest law of our land, they must be held accountable.
“We look forward to continuing to protect Dr. Josephson’s clearly stated right to free speech and reminding all public universities that they are marketplaces for ideas.”
The University of Louisville, whose LGBT center filed a complaint with the school about Josephson, has not yet issued a statement.