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The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that a lawsuit filed by a University of Louisville professor who alleged he was demoted because of his views on gender dysphoria can proceed to trial at the district court.
Allan M. Josephson, a psychiatrist at the public university’s School of Medicine, sued six of his colleagues for allegedly retaliating against him after he expressed conservative views on the treatment of children with gender dysphoria during a 2017 panel sponsored by the Heritage Foundation. The lawsuit, filed by Alliance Defending Freedom, argued that Josephson’s opinions, which were unpopular with much of the medical school faculty, prompted his superiors to demote him, strip him of teaching duties and eventually discontinue his contract.
In 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky denied the defendants’ motions for summary judgment—finding they were not entitled to sovereign or qualified immunity—and ruled that Josephson’s speech was protected by the First Amendment and therefore a jury should hear his claims.
The appeals court decision upholds that ruling.
