An LGBT group told a major health institution to denounce an independent scientific report written by two of its academics or face being penalised, it was reported in November.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) objected to a study by Dr Lawrence Mayer and Dr Paul McHugh which concluded that there was little evidence that supported the ‘born that way’ theory on sexual orientation and transsexualism, describing the latter as an ‘elusive concept’.
The academics work at John Hopkins University (JHU), which has been told that if it does not distance itself from the study, it will face the consequence of having a lower Health Equality Index rating, which judges how ‘LGBT-friendly’ an institution is.
Academic integrity at stake
While acknowledging the complexities of transsexualism, the report said: ‘the evidence that we are born with a given gender seems well supported by direct observation’, and that ‘males overwhelmingly identify as men and females as women.’ It continued: ‘The fact that children are (with a few exceptions of intersex individuals) born either biologically male or female is beyond debate.’
JHU defended its employees’ free speech, declaring its continued commitment to providing its staff with ‘academic integrity and freedom of expression’. It also stated that: ‘As an academic medical research institution, academic freedom is among our fundamental principles.’
