Those who have the courage to stand up to the mob will triumph.
In a Monday news release, Alliance Defending Freedom announced that the University of Louisville has settled with Dr. Allan Josephson, a psychiatrist who once led the school’s Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology.
Josephson caused a stir while sitting a panel for the Heritage Foundation where he spoke out against harmful procedures done on children in the name of transgenderism. The University of Louisville demoted him to junior faculty and stripped him of teaching responsibilities while he was harassed and an “Allan Tracking document” was created to keep tabs on him and spread disapproval of his ever obtaining any prominent role there again.
He was eventually let go in 2019.
The ADF took Josephson’s case, and in September 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled that the case could proceed to trial as “public university officials can be held personally accountable for censoring professors or retaliating against them as the University of Louisville did in Josephson’s case.”
ADF senior counsel Travis Barham commented on the case, “As early as 2014, Dr. Josephson saw the truth behind dangerous procedures that activists were pushing on children struggling with their sex. He risked his livelihood and reputation to speak the truth boldly, and the university punished him for expressing his opinion — ultimately by dismissing him. But public universities have no business punishing professors simply because they hold different views.
“Dr. Josephson’s case illustrates why — because the latest and best science confirms what he stated all along,” he added.
The University of Louisville, rather than go to court, agreed to a settlement, with the ADF dismissing the remaining claims in the case on Monday.
Was this settlement fair?
The settlement totaled $1.6 million.
Josephson commented on his stance saying, “Children deserve better than life-altering procedures that mutilate their bodies and destroy their ability to lead fulfilling lives.”
On Friday, the ADF posted footage to the social media platform X of Josephson and ADF attorney Tyson Langhofer speaking to Fox News about the case and its significance.
“[Transitioning children] is such an amazingly kind of absurd notion that has grabbed a hold of our nation. I just hope a few of us have been shaken by this,” Josephson said.
“Dr. Josephson’s story is really a story about how gender ideology engulfed America, but it’s also a story about how we can defeat it,” Langhofer added.
“Children deserve better than life-altering procedures that mutilate their bodies and destroy their ability to lead fulfilling lives.” – Dr. Allan Josephson
ADF Attorney @LanghoferTyson joins @FoxNews to discuss the 1.6M settlement Dr. Josephson received for being fired by the… pic.twitter.com/s1ImjU4zyE
— Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal) April 25, 2025
As former President Abraham Lincoln put it, “It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong.”
Josephson did not simply tiptoe around an issue he knew was completely evil in performing surgeries to harm children for life.
He had the courage that our former president spoke of and so many Americans should aspire to have. Yes, speaking up is painful, humiliating, and potentially life changing. To back down or remain silent affords one a comfortable, easier existence, but it also means evil and injustice win.
Josephson deserves our thanks and respect.
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