MADISON, Wis.—Dr. Joseph Gow, a former chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, filed a federal lawsuit against the leadership of the Universities of Wisconsin (UW) System for violating his First Amendment rights to engage in his hobby as an indie adult content creator alongside his spouse, Dr. Carmen Wilson.
The case is before the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.
As AVN first reported in January 2024, Gow was fired from his long-serving position as a senior administrator and chancellor at UW-La Crosse after it was revealed that he and Wilson were content creators using the social media branding “Sexy Happy Couple.”
Throughout last year, he appealed and fought for his tenure as a professor, but the Board of Regents voted him out and ultimately terminated his employment.
After a key round of hearings, Gow was fired by the UW Board of Regents at the end of September. Also at that time, he confirmed to AVN that he intends to sue UW System.
Now, he has, represented by a First Amendment attorney provided by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a pro-bono public interest law firm, Mark Leitner of Laffey, Leitner & Goode LLC. Leitner made a First Amendment defense; Gow alleges the regents and the university system were violating his rights to free expression.
Gow’s lawsuit directly targets the Board of Regents, Universities of Wisconsin President Jay O. Rothman, and dozens more. The lawsuit argues, “The board’s termination of Dr. Gow violated the First Amendment. It also flouts the University of Wisconsin System’s stated commitment to freedom of expression.”
“The most important function of the First Amendment is to protect against punishment for engaging in legal, protected speech,” explains the lawsuit. Counsel for Gow asks for a jury to be attached to proceedings in the case once it is assigned a judge.
AVN has covered Dr. Gow’s case extensively. In an email sharing the news of the lawsuit, Gow told AVN that Jan. 27, 2025, “[is] the first day of spring semester classes at [UW La Crosse].”
“And had [it not been for] the Board of Regents and other UW officials [who] unjustly fired me, I would have returned to the classroom.
“The books and videos my wife and I created and then distributed on the internet are protected by the First Amendment, and when the regents terminated me, they deprived me of my constitutional rights,” Gow added.
