A US psychiatrist fired for speaking out against radical gender ideology is challenging his employers in court.
Dr Allan Josephson spent 15 years developing a nationally acclaimed child and adolescent psychiatry and psychology faculty at the University of Louisville.
However, when he shared his professional opinion on gender-confused children during a panel discussion, he was initially demoted by the university, and subsequently his contract was not renewed.
‘Multiple problems’
Dr Josephson said he spoke out because he saw parents and children being hurt by the one-sided approach of medical professionals.
He said: “These kids are, for the most part, very vulnerable people. You can see that when you spend time with them.
“Certainly, the teenagers have multiple problems. Most of the time, 60 or 70 per cent of the time, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, they’re hurting people.
“And parents are confused because they’re basically getting one message from medical and mental-health professionals and that is ‘Affirm people’.”
Baffling
Dr Josephson also raised concerns about the typical way doctors diagnose for gender dysphoria, which is that if a child is “persistent, consistent, and insistent” that they are the opposite sex, then it must be true.
He found it baffling, pointing out that children “insistently, persistently, consistently demand lots of things that are not good for them”.
“Whether it’s turning off the computer, eating your own food, staying up too late … it’s the parents’ job then to guide them to say ‘This is what you need to do to be healthy’.”
He added: “I’ve sat through some situations where it was stunning – the cursory nature of the evaluation, and then after that time the patient gets hormones.”
Travesty
He likened the current system to a restaurant where a patient walks in and orders a treatment.
“Doctors have always said: ‘You give me the symptoms, and I’ll help you with what I think is going on for the diagnosis’. But that basic process is being short-circuited by a ‘this is my diagnosis; this is what I have’ approach.
“And literally, they’re asking for hormones. And amazingly, doctors are going along with it in many cases. I think it’s a travesty of our profession.”
He advises professionals to explore developmental factors, such as family upbringing, before deciding on treatments.