University pays professor $1.6 million after firing him for opposing medical mutilation
The University of Louisville has agreed to pay Dr. Allan Josephson close to $1.6 million as part of a settlement after demoting, harassing, and firing him for speaking out against medical mutilation procedures for minors.
Dr. Josephson is a renowned psychiatrist whom the university hired to head its Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology. Under his stewardship, the previously struggling department became a critically acclaimed program that received nationwide prestige.
But in October 2017, Dr. Josephson participated in a panel hosted by the Heritage Foundation and voiced his personal opposition to “gender-affirming care” for minors diagnosed with gender dysphoria. These procedures, which include cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers, mastectomies, and genital surgeries, cause children irreversible harm like sterility, castration, anorgasmia, and more. Ethical doctors commonly refer to these interventions as “medical mutilation.”
Within five days of Dr. Josephson’s remarks—which he had made in a personal capacity and not as a university employee—the university’s LGBT Center launched a smear campaign against him. The center’s officials complained to Dr. Josephson’s dean, Toni Ganzel, that he “might be violating the ethical standards of psychiatry,” though they could not explain how. The dean responded sympathetically, saying the professor’s opinion “doesn’t reflect the culture we are trying so hard to promote.”
Demoted, harassed, and terminated
University officials dug into Dr. Josephson’s history and discovered that he had also served as an expert witness in a case involving a male student who was trying to gain access to girls’ locker rooms and showers by claiming to be gender dysphoric. Dr. Josephson’s opposition to gender ideology enraged his colleagues, who demanded he publicly apologize for expressing his views. The administration demoted him to a junior-level position and agreed to impose a slew of punishments. They decided to ban him from discussing gender dysphoria with students, forbid him from treating patients who identified as LGBTQ, and force him to use gender ideology newspeak.
Officials also began an “Allan tracking document” listing complaints against Dr. Josephson. The LGBT Center manufactured three of the complaints, while Dr. Josephson’s colleagues extracted more complaints from students and staff about his remarks on gender ideology.
In the meantime, university administrators banned the professor from faculty meetings and refused to meet with him. When they finally did, they accused him of lying and acting “childish, narcissistic, and flippant.”
In February 2019, after Dr. Josephson served the university for 16 and a half years, he was terminated. It was an unusual decision that terminated his 40-year career. The professor sued the school, but a district court denied his complaint. The court’s decision was reversed on appeal, and the university has now settled the case for nearly $1.6 million in damages and attorneys' fees.
“I’m glad to finally receive vindication for voicing what I know is true,” said Dr. Josephson in a statement. “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.”
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the nonprofit legal advocacy group that represented Dr. Josephson, celebrated the settlement as a win for free speech.
“After several years, free speech and common sense have scored a major victory on college campuses,” said ADF Senior Counsel Travis Barham in a press release. “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. Dr. Josephson’s case illustrates why—because the latest and best science confirms what he stated all along. 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.”
