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Medical doctor who offered his criticism of treatments for minors with gender confusion can sue University of Louisville officials, a federal court ruled

University of Louisville officials can be sued for their roles in firing a psychiatrist who criticized transgender drugs and surgeries for minors, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.

Dr. Allan Josephson’s case now returns “to the district court for further proceedings,” according to his legal team at Alliance Defending Freedom.

He is seeking damages and reinstatement to his professor position. The Sep. 10 ruling affirmed a March 2023 district court decision that school officials do not have immunity from being sued.

“Unless the University appeals this ruling or settles the case, it is headed for a jury trial,” Senior Counsel Travis Barham told The College Fix via a media statement.

Dr. Josephson (pictured) had criticized surgeries and drugs for minors with gender dysphoria during a 2017 panel at the Heritage Foundation. “You don’t affirm a bad idea,” Josephson said, commenting on how parents should respond when their child says she is the opposite sex. He also discussed the relationship between other mental health issues and gender confusion.

These comments, and the revelation that he testified in court on gender dysphoria issues, led some of his colleagues to file complaints against him with the university.

University officials promptly took action against him by demoting him and then essentially firing him by not renewing his contract. Josephson had worked at the university since 2003, turning around the “struggling” child psychiatry division, according to ADF.

The university argued during the hearing it could fire Josephson for his comments made because they related to his official duties as a professor, as previously reported by The Fix.

The federal court said it did not matter if he made the comments as a private individual or as a medical school professor – “Even if Josephson’s participation in the Heritage Foundation panel were part of his official duties, that would not alter our conclusion that he engaged in protected speech at that event,” the ruling stated.

“Although he was not teaching a class, Josephson’s panel remarks were on a topic he taught and wrote about as a child-psychiatry expert,” Judge Andre Mathis wrote.

“Put differently, Josephson’s speech stemmed from his scholarship and thus related to scholarship or teaching,” Judge Mathis wrote. “As such, Josephson engaged in protected speech because it related to core academic functions.”

The university declined to comment on the ruling.

Executive Director of Communications John Karman told The Fix via email that “the university cannot comment on ongoing litigation.”

Barham, the Alliance Defending Freedom attorney, said professors should not “fear” “being demoted or fired” for sharing “their views about topics in their areas of expertise.”

When this happens, universities “should be held accountable,” Barham said.

Furthermore, the free exchange of views is vital to science and academia, Barham said.

“Academic and scientific progress depends on hearing from a variety of viewpoints,” the attorney told The Fix. “And that exchange of ideas is perhaps most critical when assessing treatment plans for vulnerable patients, like Dr. Josephson was doing.”

Shutting down debate denies patients “critical information they need to make fully informed treatment decisions,” Barham said.

“In the process, they also do a disservice to students, faculty, and society at large, as they stop being the marketplace of ideas and instead become assembly lines for one type of thought.”

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IMAGE: Heritage Foundation/YouTube

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