Doctor Fired for Opposing Gender Treatments Wins $1.6 Million in Free Speech Case
At some point, the world must reckon with how, over the last decade, the obviously unscientific claim that men can become women and vice versa birthed an anti-scientific movement that won the endorsement of much of the scientific and medical community in the developed world. A major part of the story is that dissent was silenced.
Last week, the University of Louisville agreed to pay nearly $1.6 million in damages and attorneys’ fees to Dr. Allan Josephson. For nearly 15 years, Dr. Josephson led the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Louisville, helping it to become a nationally recognized program. In 2017, in a panel discussion hosted by the Heritage Foundation, Dr. Josephson spoke out about how minors were being treated for gender dysphoria. As he put it, “parents, children need help, and they aren’t getting help…”
Dr. Josephson expressed his view as a medical professional that the psychological issues that often cause gender confusion should be understood and treated, rather than simply rushing children into radical, invasive, and aggressive treatments like puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones. “Truth matters,” Dr. Josephson said, but it is taking “second place” to radical ideology.
Almost immediately, University officials began targeting Dr. Josephson for expressing these views. He was demoted and, in 2019, his contract was not renewed. In addition to losing his job despite outstanding performance reviews, his peers turned on him. Here’s how he described the experience to Fox News.
What was the hardest to take? Well, I think the personal is always the hardest. I had people [who] were part of my group—my colleagues—stop talking to me. . .. It was just the most amazing thing. And it became personal when really, I was just trying to make a scientific, clinical point. Nobody came to talk to me about it. Nobody even asked me, ‘What is your view on this?’ They just assumed the worst.
Though colleges and universities often claim to be places of academic freedom, civil discourse, and free inquiry, that has never been the case when it comes to radical gender ideology. Dissent was simply not allowed. Dissenters were punished. And it wasn’t just academia.
At the Tavistock Clinic in the U.K., Dr. David Bell was fired after he wrote an internal report finding that “children’s needs are being met in a woeful, inadequate manner, and some will live on with the damaging consequences.” Target famously banned Abigail Shrier’s book, Irreversible Damage, the Transgender Craze Seducing our Girls, while Amazon banned Ryan T. Anderson’s book, When Harry Became Sally. Twitter banned the Babylon Bee for naming a biological man its satirical “Man of the Year,” and YouTube and Facebook also removed content over this issue.
Last year, in a Breakpoint Forum called Following the Science on Transgender Ideology, I asked Dr. Farr Curlin of Duke University about this kind of intimidation:
I have observed that there is something like terror among my colleagues, many of them, about speaking up about the real concerns they share about the ethics of medicalized gender transition, particularly for kids. I have been in groups of leading bioethicists where, behind closed doors, many have mentioned that there are a lot of concerns they still have. And these are people across the ideological spectrum with respect to politics and religion, and so on. But there’s a kind of consensus that it’s a very hostile environment to speak up.
Thankfully, there are leaders such as Dr. Josephson who refused to bow their knee to this ideological idol. He was among the first to push back, and the Alliance Defending Freedom stood with him throughout his ordeal. This legal victory was a long time coming, but it counts along other significant signs of reversal, including the closing of the Tavistock Clinic, an executive order in the U.S., and a decision by the U.K. High Court that clarifies the legal understanding of male and female, and The Babylon Bee back on Twitter. The lesson for all of us is that we must not participate in lies and should trust the Lord to stand on the side of truth.
Photo Courtesy: ©GettyImages/AaronAmat
Published Date: May 6, 2025
John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.
BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.
