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Doctor fired for speaking out against child sex changes wins big settlement against University of Louisville



University of Louisville officials have agreed to pay nearly $1.6 million to settle their case with Dr. Allan Josephson, the professor whom the university demoted, then canned for speaking out against child sex changes, after 15 years of distinguished service.

"I'm glad to finally receive vindication for voicing what I know is true," Josephson said in a statement Monday.

Gender ideology and the sex-change regime it gave rise to in the West have suffered a series of mortal blows in recent years.

The practice of so-called gender-affirming care has been outed as ruinous pseudo-science; practitioners have been damned by their own words as freewheeling mutilators; and LGBT activists' narrative in support of sex changes has collapsed in the face of mounting contradictory evidence. Meanwhile, across the country and beyond, lawmakers have passed legislation and policy affirming the meaningful and immutable distinction between men and women, preventing the invasion by men of women's spaces, and protecting children from sex-change procedures.

While popular opinion is now unmistakably against gender ideology and the corresponding medicalization of children, those who stood their ground against the sex-change regime in recent years often did so at great reputational and professional risk. Dr. Allan Josephson found this out the hard way.

'Runs counter to the messages of inclusion and welcome that we have been sending.'

Josephson, a psychiatrist, joined the University of Louisville School of Medicine in 2003, where he led the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology without incident until Josephson spoke on a Heritage Foundation panel in October 2017 titled "Gender Dysphoria in Children: Understanding the Science and the Medicine."

Josephson — who previously expressed concerns over the medical procedures to which children experiencing so-called gender dysphoria were being subjected — explained:

Gender dysphoria is a socio-cultural, psychological phenomenon that cannot be fully addressed with drugs and surgery. Thus, doctors and others should explore what causes this confusion and help the child learn how to meet this developmental challenge.

According to court documents, the psychiatrist's opinion apparently did not sit well with Brian Buford, the director of the university's LGBT executive center, who contacted the medical school's then-dean Toni Ganzel, suggesting that Josephson "might be violating the ethical standards for psychiatry" and drawing unwanted national attention for an opinion that "puts our reputation at risk and runs counter to the messages of inclusion and welcome that we have been sending."

Ganzel, in turn, noted that Josephson's remarks did not "reflect the culture" that the school was "trying so hard to promote," said court documents.

The concern-mongering over Josephson's perceived "highly conservative position" quickly snowballed. The doctor's colleagues began hectoring him about his remarks, and by the end of the November 2017, they were pressuring him to resign as division chief for daring to express an opinion out of line with the new orthodoxy.

Under mounting pressure, Josephson agreed to resign as division head effective early December 2017. This did not, however, satisfy the ideologues in his midst who were apparently keen on institutional uniformity of vision on this issue.

Court documents indicate that officials in the school's LGBT executive center as well as Josephson's division colleagues plotted to undermine him, partly by challenging his "inductive reasoning as unscientific and ask how much he's earned as an expert witness over the last two years on sexuality issues."

'Public universities have no business punishing professors simply because they hold different views.'

Josephson was told not to treat non-straight patients and apparently surveilled, with his conduct detailed on what one division official dubbed an "Allan tracking document." Those colleagues who took issue with his remarks also criticized Josephson's work performance and productivity.

By February 2019, it became clear that the school had decided not to renew the doctor's contract. Shortly thereafter, Josephson filed suit against several university officials, alleging First Amendment retaliation.

The university fought the case all the way up to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which ruled in September that:

Apparently aware they were fighting a losing battle, university officials apparently agreed to pay nearly $1.6 million in damages and attorney fee to settle the lawsuit.

"After several years, free speech and common sense have scored a major victory on college campuses," said Travis Barham, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, the group that represented Josephson.

"As early as 2014, Dr. Josephson saw the truth behind dangerous procedures that activists were pushing on children struggling with their sex," continued Barham. "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."

"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," added Barham.

Josephson stated, "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."

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