The University of Louisville reportedly agreed to pay about $1.6 million to settle a lawsuit brought by a former professor whom the university fired for speaking out against transgender treatments for minors.
For almost 15 years, Dr. Allan Josephson served as the Chief of the University of Louisville's Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology.
In his legal complaint, Josephson states that he took the division from underperforming to revitalized and did so during his tenure while achieving somewhat perfect evaluations reflected in yearly annual review ratings from 2014 to 2016 that most closely resembled perfect scores.
The grievance states that Josephson, despite being a successful professional, was demoted in 2017 and then terminated because of comments he made while acting as a private citizen and that are said to be out of sync with the company's "diversity and inclusion" values. His comments were about whether children suffering from gender dysphoria should be given hormone therapy and/or undergo surgery. He appears to have taken a strongly negative position.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which stood with Josephson in the legal fight, first announced the settlement's resolution on Monday. They characterized the outcome as a "major victory" for free-speech principles. Josephson, a 2016 graduate of the Ohio public high school where he was a student when the events leading to the lawsuit unfolded, now works as a paralegal. In a statement released through ADF, Josephson said: "I was not silent when I was told to be quiet. I had the same right to speak as everyone else.
Josephson expressed formal satisfaction in being proven right. "I am so glad to finally be vindicated for saying what I know is true," he said.
Josephson also said 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.â€
The complaint delineates that the events started in October 2017 when Josephson participated in a panel discussion regarding transgender ideology. The conservative organization The Heritage Foundation called this panel into being. At this panel, Josephson expressed his opposition to the influence of gender-ideology activism on the medical treatment of minors with gender dysphoria.
When Josephson's statements came to the university administration's attention, top officials in the LGBT center allegedly pressed his division in the College of Arts and Sciences to discipline him for his remarks.
His viewpoints became more focused after he served as an expert witness in a legal case involving a school district's policy on bathroom access related to gender identity.
The complaint alleges that Josephson's colleagues, who disagreed with his statements, pushed the university to discipline him. In December 2013, Josephson was demoted from the position of chief of the division and reassigned to a lower rank after more than three years of leading the unit.
According to the complaint, officials at the university supposedly acted in ways that were belittling and berating toward the plaintiff. This conduct, he alleges, has caused "irreparable damage to his professional career and to his reputation." The plaintiff also alleges that prior to informing him in February 2019 that his contract would not be renewed, the university acted in ways that effectively reduced his salary and his benefits.
Josephson began the legal fight against the university on next month after the termination and accused the university of violating his rights under the First Amendment. He claimed that the university retaliated against him for expressing his views.
The lengthy six-year legal battle came to a close with a plaintiff-friendly settlement, at which time Alliance Defending Freedom filed a stipulated dismissal of the case.
Eddie Price
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