My isolation within the American College of Surgeons began over a year ago, on April 17, 2022. This was the day that Tyler Hughes, general secretary of the ACS and editor-in-chief of its online forum, informed me that I had been banned for life. I had inquired why I could not access the Communities, the online discussion forum of the ACS, for nearly two weeks. Neither could I access the members directory or my own private messages. Hughes made it clear that this was to be a permanent ban.

Why was I banned? For questioning the ACS’s rush to embrace critical race theory.