On August 29, the Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit to defend the First Amendment rights of Dr. Eric Cubin, a radiologist whom the Governor of Wyoming forced to resign from the Wyoming Board of Medicine for privately writing a letter in support of a proposed bill that the Governor himself eventually signed into law.
Dr. Cubin is a member of the Wyoming Medical Society (WMS), a voluntary organization of Wyoming doctors that claims to represent the interests of physicians across the state. In early 2024, the organization expressed its opposition to a proposed bill known as Chloe’s Law, which would restrict Wyoming physicians’ ability to perform gender reassignment surgeries on, or prescribe hormone therapy for, minors.
Because the WMS’s public position on Chloe’s Law did not reflect the perspective held by all of its members, Dr. Cubin contacted the WMS to request that the organization poll its members and present physicians on both sides of the issue. The organization repeatedly ignored his concern that the WMS was not accurately representing the views of Wyoming physicians.
On February 28, Dr. Cubin sent an email to the Wyoming House of Representatives to express his personal support for Chloe’s Law and to state that the WMS’s public opposition to the bill did not represent the perspective of all Wyoming physicians.
Chloe’s Law passed both Wyoming’s House and Senate with strong support, and Governor Mark Gordon signed it into law on March 22. The bill went into effect on July 1.
On April 22—a month after he signed the bill into law—Governor Gordon removed Dr. Cubin from his position on the Wyoming Board of Medicine, explicitly citing Dr. Cubin’s personal email to the House of Representatives in support of Chloe’s Law as the reason for removal.
By firing Dr. Cubin for exercising his right to free speech, the Governor engaged in illegal retaliation and violated Dr. Cubin’s First Amendment rights.
“Governor Gordon unlawfully retaliated against Dr. Cubin for exercising his First Amendment rights,” said Buck Dougherty, Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center. “People who serve in government positions do not lose their right to speak out on important issues. We look forward to holding the Governor accountable for his actions in court.”
“I was removed from the Wyoming State Board of Medicine because I took a stand to protect the children in our state. I had been misrepresented by the Wyoming Medical Society and had no choice but to speak up for what I believe to be right,” said Dr. Eric Cubin, plaintiff in the lawsuit. “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.”
Cubin v. Gordon was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming, Cheyenne Division, on August 29, 2024. Cheyenne-based attorney D. Stephen Melchior served as local counsel to file the lawsuit.
The Liberty Justice Center’s legal filings in Cubin v. Gordon are available here.