(LifeSiteNews) — A former professor at the University of Louisville was awarded $1.6 million in a free speech lawsuit after being fired for criticizing transgender treatments for children who experience gender confusion.
Dr. Allan Josephson, who had served as chief of the university’s Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology, “was demoted, harassed, and ultimately fired for speaking out on the harms of ‘transitioning’ children,” according to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the attorney group that represented the respected psychiatrist in the case.
Josephson’s persecution began in 2017 after he had participated in a panel discussion on transgender ideology at The Heritage Foundation.
Staff members at the University of Louisville’s LGBT Center were reportedly offended by what Josephson said and pushed his division to discipline respected psychiatrist.
Pressure mounted after he acted as an expert witness in a lawsuit concerning a school district’s policy on gender-confused individuals using opposite-sex bathrooms.
Josephson was at first demoted from chief of the division to a junior faculty member and had his salary and benefits reduced before being fired from the school in 2019.
In September 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled that Josephson’s case should proceed to trial, declaring public university officials can be held personally accountable for censoring professors or retaliating against them as the University of Louisville did in Josephson’s case.
“I’m glad to finally receive vindication for voicing what I know is true,” Josephson said after the lawsuit’s resolution. “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,” Josephson said.
“After several years, free speech and common sense have scored a major victory on college campuses,” ADF senior counsel Travis Barham said. “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.”
“Public universities have no business punishing professors simply because they hold different views,” Barham continued. “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.”
“While the university issued a statement that it has nothing further to say” concerning the $1.6 million in damages and attorney’s fees it will now pay, “donors and others should have many questions that need to be answered by a university that spent millions fighting against free speech,” legal commentator Jonathan Turley wrote.
“I hope that donors and faculty (as well as state legislators) will demand ‘additional comment,’” Turley said. “We have seen colleges and universities burn millions in fighting against free speech or supporting cancel campaigns.”
“Administrators make these decisions knowing that they are rarely held accountable. They shrug and move on, and the cycle continues,” he added.
“Dr. Josephson risked his career and reputation to speak the truth, and the University of Louisville fired him for taking a stand,” ADF noted in a separate statement. “Nearly a decade later, Dr. Josephson’s legal victory tells the story of how gender ideology engulfed America — yet the truth won out.”
