The University of Louisville’s latest arguments in front of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals do not inspire confidence that its medical school is a place for open debate on important topics. The school recently argued that it should be able to fire Dr. Allan Josephson for his criticism, on his own time, of treatments for young people who struggle with gender dysphoria.
Josephson “turned around” the university’s “struggling Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology” after joining the school in the early 2000s, according to his attorneys at the Alliance Defending Freedom. Despite this success and other accolades, including perfect scores on his performance reviews, Josephson found himself forced out after comments he made at a Heritage Foundation panel in 2017.
These included raising concerns about the comorbidity of other mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression, with transgender identification. He also said parents should “affirm” and “love” a child who identifies as the opposite sex, but not in the way activists say to do it.
“You don’t affirm a bad idea,” Josephson said.
The sanctions also followed further discovery by his peers that he testified in court as an expert on gender dysphoria .
This fits into other concerning stories about the ostracism of academics who question treatments for children who claim to be the opposite sex, despite the fact that sex is immutable and there are only two genders.
Though he was the division chief, the university demoted Josephson “to the role of a junior faculty member” before eventually getting rid of him in 2019, according to ADF. On Tuesday, an attorney for the university argued in front of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that its officials have “qualified immunity” for actions related to their decision not to renew Josephson’s contract.
The university argued that Josephson’s personal comments at the Heritage Foundation related to his professional role at the medical school and thus overcame a First Amendment claim.
He was not separately compensated for this speech and did not do it at the direction of the school, the attorney said after being questioned by Judge Richard Griffin. In fact, the Heritage Foundation paid for him to speak there, as Josephson’s attorney would say shortly thereafter.
The views were “expressed on his own time,” ADF attorney Travis Barham argued in front of the court. He said the university was arguing for a “radical” concept that professors lose their First Amendment rights “off campus.” Per case law, public employees have more First Amendment rights when not on the job, according to Barham.
“It’s clear that he was speaking as a citizen … on a matter of public concern, the issue of gender identity,” Barham argued.
Yet medical school officials “took away [Josephson’s] teaching duties,” “banned him from faculty meetings,” and “removed psychology trainees from his tutelage.”
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Those punishments, the oral arguments, and a pending lawsuit should be a warning message to prospective faculty of the University of Louisville School of Medicine.
The school has made clear it does not respect the rights of faculty to voice their views on issues, even those that are directly related to their jobs as professors. Josephson, as a psychiatrist and medical school professor, should have the right to criticize transgender ideology whether he is on or off campus.
Matt Lamb is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is an associate editor for the College Fix, which recently received a grant from the Heritage Foundation for an unrelated project. He has previously worked with Alliance Defending Freedom on free speech issues at prior jobs.
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