Nonprofit organization Liberty Justice Center has filed a lawsuit seeking monetary damages from Wyoming's governor over allegations of "retaliation" against radiologist Eric Cubin, MD, who spoke out in support of Chloe's Law.
Chloe's law went into effect July 1 and restricts Wyoming physicians’ ability to provide transgender medical treatments and perform surgeries on minors. Cubin was forced to resign from the Wyoming Board of Medicine after he sent an email to state legislators to express his personal support for Chloe’s Law and to state that the Wyoming Medical Society (WMS)'s public opposition to the bill did not represent the perspective of all Wyoming physicians, Liberty Justice Center said in its new release.
“Governor [Mark] Gordon unlawfully retaliated against Dr. Cubin for exercising his First Amendment rights,” Buck Dougherty, senior counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, said in a statement.
Cubin said he was removed from the Wyoming State Board of Medicine because he took a stand to protect children.
"I had been misrepresented by the Wyoming Medical Society and had no choice but to speak up for what I believe to be right," Cubin explained in the release. "I urged our legislators to be circumspect about the information they were being provided and cautious about what they allow physicians to do to kids in our state -- something that is now the law across Wyoming. I am proud to stand with the Liberty Justice Center and fight this violation of my First Amendment rights.”
Cowboy State Daily reported the incident in May, saying that Gordon told Cubin he planned to remove him because Cubin’s comments showed a clear bias that could give Wyoming doctors licensed by the board “a reason to be concerned that you might use your position to advocate for a particular position,” when topics like these should be addressed without prejudice.
Liberty Justice Center filed the lawsuit, Cubin v. Gordon, August 29 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming's Cheyenne Division. The filing clarified that Cubin communicated his concerns to WMS Executive Director Sheila Bush and the WMS board but did not receive a satisfactory response. Cubin went further, sending a letter to the state House of Representatives where he ultimately criticized WMS's position on the bill, Liberty Justice Center said.
