Dr. Allan M. Josephson / ADF Website
CV NEWS FEED // Child psychiatrist Allan Josephson secured a $1.6 million settlement from the University of Louisville following his 2019 dismissal after publicly expressing concerns about the medical treatment of gender dysphoria in children.
“The fact that we won this settlement is a huge validation,” Josephson said in an exclusive interview with The Free Press. “We felt vindicated.”
Josephson, who served as chair of the university’s Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology for 14 years, was removed from his position as chief shortly after speaking at a Heritage Foundation panel in 2017. At the event, he warned against what he called a hasty medicalization of youth experiencing gender confusion.
“Transgender ideology. . . is neglectful of the need for developing coping skills and problem-solving skills in children,” he stated during the event.
He also stated, “Of course you affirm the child and love the child, but you don’t affirm a bad idea.”
Shortly after the panel, university officials began to respond to internal concerns. Brian Buford, then-director of the university’s LGBT Center, flagged a blog post that criticized Josephson’s comments as “anti-trans.” Buford passed his concerns to the School of Medicine’s dean and ultimately to Josephson’s supervisor, who informed him that the majority of his faculty opposed his approach, according to the Free Press. Within six weeks, Josephson was asked to resign as division chair or face removal.
The consequences escalated. According to his legal complaint, Josephson’s salary and benefits were reduced, his academic travel funding slashed, and he was subjected to ongoing internal scrutiny. Colleagues began monitoring his clinical notes and work hours in what he described as a campaign of intimidation. He remained at the university in a diminished role until 2019, when his contract was not renewed.
“I wanted it actually to go to court, because I thought that would be the final vindication,” Josephson told the Free Press. “The personal cost was so enormous. I’m getting older, so this came at a good time, and there was a good settlement.”
Josephson, with legal backing from the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), filed a lawsuit arguing that the university had violated his constitutional rights by punishing him for expressing professional opinions on a matter of growing public concern.
The ADF called the settlement a major victory for free speech in an April 21 press release.
“Dr. Josephson saw the truth behind dangerous procedures that activists were pushing on children struggling with their sex,” ADF Senior Counsel Travis Barham said. “He risked his livelihood and reputation to speak the truth boldly, and the university punished him for expressing his opinion — ultimately by dismissing him.”
Barrham added that the case illustrates that universities should not punish professors for their opinions, since Josephson’s beliefs have now been confirmed through empirical research.
“Children deserve better than life-altering procedures that mutilate their bodies and destroy their ability to lead fulfilling lives,” Josephson states in the ADF release. “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.”
He also expressed to the Free Press that even though he initially hoped his case would go to court, he was still satisfied with the outcome.
“I wanted it actually to go to court, because I thought that would be the final vindication,” Josephson said. “The personal cost was so enormous. I’m getting older, so this came at a good time, and there was a good settlement.”
The Free Press noted that Jamie Reed, a whistleblower who revealed abuses at the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital in a 2023 Free Press exposé, said that adults need to continue to work to protect minors from gender mutilation surgery.
“These kinds of one-off legal wins are hugely important, but I don’t see that we’re at a position yet where the United States has actually come to face the fact that damage is being done,” Reed said. “Half of our states are still doing this to children.”
