The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled Tuesday in favor of Dr. Allen Josephson and sent his case back to a district court for trial.
Josephson's attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) say Josephson was demoted, harassed, and later fired because of his views on gender dysphoria, views that Josephson shared off campus at The Heritage Foundation where Josephson was invited to speak.
Travis Barham is Senior Counsel for ADF.
“In 2017 he was invited to speak at The Heritage Foundation on how best to treat children who suffer from gender dysphoria. He went there and spoke, and unfortunately, a few members of his faculty got upset at the viewpoints he expressed there. They demanded that the university punish him. Sadly, the university did just that. Within weeks, the university demoted him and, in the spring of 2019, terminated him. That's just a flagrant violation of the First Amendment and that's what the 6th circuit upheld."
The University of Louisville seems unwilling to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review this case. Barham says that is "highly unlikely."
Jury trial upcoming
"So, it looks like we're going to be headed back to district court for trial. Dr. Josephson will be able to present his case to a jury of his peers. What this does is reinforce the basic message that public universities simply have no business punishing people, especially professors, simply because they hold different views of their colleagues or a few administrators."
The case is known as Josephson v. Ganzel.
“It’s a win for free speech, it’s a win for everyone, regardless of the area of the country. When courts defend free speech and vindicate free speech rights, that's a victory for everyone. Courts look at decisions from other areas of the country. So, we should all rejoice when the government is prevented from punishing people simply because it dislikes the views that they may hold."
