A distinguished professor of pediatrics has been fired after questioning dangerous and aggressive medical treatments for children with gender confusion.
Dr Allan Josephson made the comments in 2017, during a panel discussion at the Heritage Foundation when asked about the medicalisation of children suffering gender dysphoria.
According to Travis Barham, an attorney with the Alliance Defending Freedom: “[Dr Josephson] simply raised a very common-sense notion that we should explore what’s going on in the child’s life, what sort of psychiatric issues the child might be facing before we undertake any further more aggressive medical treatment.”
Following his remarks, Dr Josephson, the Division Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Louisville, was demoted and then effectively fired by the university, despite receiving perfect marks on his annual evaluation for the three consecutive years prior.
Earlier this year, Dr Josephson told the National Review: “…it became clear that a few on my faculty were upset with some of the things that I’d said. Within a few short weeks — it was stunning how quickly it occurred — I was removed from my leadership position and then, within the next year, subjected to fairly hostile work-environment situations and, finally, not that long ago, informed that my contract would not be renewed when it ended on June 30.”
In a video today released by the ADF, Dr Josephson said much of the study around the issue of gender dysphoria is being conducted by activists and not according to science.
“The inherent bias in many of the people doing this work is more of an activist nature rather than scientific nature. And those are some major concerns that many of us have about the kind of studies,” Dr Josephson said.
Following Dr Josephson’s dismissal, ADF filed a lawsuit against the university.
Barham went on to say, professors should not fear for their careers simply because they hold different views, speak to a group of conservatives, or express ideas the administration does not like.
“Universities are supposed to be a marketplace of ideas,” he said, “not an assembly line for one type of thought.”
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