Cameron Henderson
25 September 2024 9:02pm
A university fired a professor of child psychology for expressing the view that young people should not be given hormone-altering drugs and transgender surgeries.
Dr Allan Josephson, formerly division chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Louisville claims he was harassed, demoted and eventually fired in 2017 after making the comments at an outside event.
A judge has now ruled that Dr Josephson’s right to free speech was violated.
The professor’s lawyer said the decision “affirmed that basic truth” that “public universities have no business punishing professors” for their views.
In autumn 2017, award-winning Dr Josephson, who specialises in child and adolescent psychiatry, took part in a Heritage Foundation panel in his own time to discuss treatments for young people who think that they may be transgender.
Childhood confusion
At the event, he said that childhood gender dysphoria was a social-cultural psychological phenomenon that cannot be fully treated with drugs and surgery.
Dr Josephson said medical staff should instead explore and address what causes children’s confusion over their gender identity.
Addressing the link between gender dysphoria and mental health problems, Dr Josephson said that, while parents should “affirm” and “love” a child who identifies as the opposite sex, they should not allow medical transition.
“You don’t affirm a bad idea,” Dr Josephson said.
Court documents told how the professor had developed concerns about doctors rushing to prescribe puberty-blockers and cross-sex hormones as far back as 2014.
Prior to losing his job at the university, he had served as an expert witness in several cases, in which he outlined that children are not equipped to make far-reaching life decisions that pose medical consequences they cannot fully appreciate until adulthood, and that gender dysphoria usually subsides by late adolescence.
When Dr Josephson informed his superiors of this work, he was allowed to pursue it.
Yet a week after the Heritage Foundation event, Louisville’s LGBT centre complained to the university, claiming Dr Josephson’s comments “might be violating the ethical standards of psychiatry”, according to court documents.
Dr Toni Ganzel, the School of Medicine’s dean at the time, replied by saying that Dr Josephson’s view “doesn’t reflect the culture we are trying so hard to promote”.
Following further complaints from colleagues in the ensuing weeks, university officials responded by demoting him to the role of a junior faculty member.
Over the next year, Dr Josephson was ostracised, stripped of teaching duties, and subjected to other forms of hostility, he told the court.
His contract was terminated in February 2019, ending his 40-year career.
The professor, who had led Louisville’s division of child and adult psychiatry since 2003, sued the school, alleging his first and fourteenth amendment rights were violated by the defendants’ retaliating against him for expressing his views on gender dysphoria.
A federal district court ruled in his favour in March 2023. This decision was affirmed by the US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit earlier this month, which ruled that university officials will now stand trial.
Protected speech
“Viewing the evidence in the light most favourable to Josephson, as we must, Josephson has shown that he engaged in protected speech when he spoke as part of the Heritage Foundation panel,” the court wrote in its opinion. “Defendants should have known that Josephson’s speech was protected and that retaliating against Josephson for his speech would violate his First Amendment rights.”
Travis Barham, a senior counsel from Alliance Defending Freedom who represented Dr Josephson, said: “Dr Josephson had a long and distinguished career at the University of Louisville, leading and rebuilding its child psychiatry program. On his own time, he spoke about treatments for children struggling with their sex, and the university punished him for expressing his opinion.
“That’s exactly what the First Amendment prohibits, and when public universities disregard our nation’s highest law, they must be held accountable. We look forward to continuing to protect Dr Josephson’s clearly established right to free speech and reminding all public universities that they are marketplaces of ideas.”
The University of Louisville was approached for comment.
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