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UK government fires doctor for rejecting transgender pronouns

United Kingdom

The British government fired a Christian doctor for refusing to identify patients by the transgender pronoun of their choice. After working as a doctor with the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom for 26 years, Dr. David Mackereth claims that he was “sacked” from working as a medical assessor for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) because he would not renounce his sincerely held Christian belief that gender is determined at birth and refer to patients by their preferred transgender pronouns.

“I’m not attacking the transgender movement, but I’m defending my right to freedom of speech and freedom of belief [as a Christian],” Mackereth contended, according to the UK’s Sunday Telegraph. “I don’t believe I should be compelled to use a specific pronoun.”

Being a registered doctor since 1989, Mackereth is not trying to be controversial or offensive to leftists and the LGBT community, but he believes that the medical profession is headed in the wrong direction by denying his employment over the hot-button issue.

“I am not setting out to upset anyone, but if upsetting someone can lead to doctors being sacked, then – as a society – we have to examine where we are going,” the 55-year-old father of four asserted.

Working most of his career as an NHS doctor in Accident and Emergency wards, Mackereth firmly believes as a Christian and veteran physician that sex is genetically and biologically determined at birth – not by a person’s choice, as the government position forces him to acknowledge.

“Mackereth – who is a Reformed Baptist – revealed that he underwent a training course in May for the DWP role, but was told that he must refer to patients as the gender they identify with,” the Christian Post (CP) reported. “He was also told that gender is ‘fluid.’”

The veteran doctor of more than a quarter of a century says those considering him for the government position as a health and disability assessor classified him as “unfit” to work in for the department because he would not abandon his “centuries old” belief rooted in his religious convictions about human sexuality being determined by God.

“His role would have involved compiling independent reports about the health of those he interviewed who were claiming disability benefits,” the UK’s Daily Mail explained. “But matters began to sour when his instructor said reports must only refer to the patient or client by the gender that person self-identifies as.”

Mackereth is afraid that more Christians working as professionals will also be terminated for holding on to their faith-based beliefs regarding human sexuality, and he believes that he is being punished for voicing his convictions that do not align with the government’s secular and politically correct worldview.

“I said that I had a problem with this,” the doctor from Dudley in the West Midlands explained, according to the Telegraph. “I believe that gender is defined by biology and genetics, and that – as a Christian – the Bible teaches us that God made humans male or female.” As a physician, he felt convicted to be truthful about his take on human sexuality.

“I could have kept my mouth shut, but it was the right time to raise it,” Mackereth recounted. “The tutor took me aside and said he had passed my comments up the chain to the DWP.”

But his response was not well-received.

“Dr. Mackereth then received an email from Advanced Personnel Management (APM) – the agency that employed him and would have hired him out to the DWP,” the Telegraph’s Steve Bird informed.

“They explained he could undergo training about the department’s policy, but the DWP had consulted lawyers and was adamant that any report or contact with clients should refer to them in their chosen sex – otherwise, it ‘could be considered to be harassment, as defined by the 2010 Equality Act.’”

Mackereth then responded that he could not submit to the demands “in good conscience,” which resulted in the government terminating his DWP contract – a determination he contests on three counts.

“Firstly, we are not allowed to say what we believe,” the British medical professional pointed out. “Secondly – as my case shows – we are not allowed to think what we believe. Finally, we are not allowed to defend what we believe.”

He sees this as leftists declaring war on those who hold to their Christian beliefs.

“By stating what has been believed by mankind for centuries – namely that gender and sex are determined at birth – you can come under ferocious attack,“ Mackereth continued. “If we are no longer allowed to say that you believe sex and gender are the same and are determined at birth, everyone who holds my views can be sacked on the spot under this Act. I’m not an isolated case.”

It was contended by a spokeswoman for the DWP that the UK’s Equality Act declares it unlawful to directly or indirectly discriminate against individuals based on a “protected characteristic,” such as one unnaturally created through gender reassignment.

“Dr Mackereth made it clear during his training that he would refuse to use pronouns which did not match his own view of a person’s biological gender,” the DWP spokeswoman maintained, according to the Telegraph. “We expect all assessors to handle assessments sensitively and adhere to the Equality Act 2010.”

Source: One News Now

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