Trans marchers holding signs at a protest. | Photo: Tumblr
A Christian doctor has been sacked as a governor medical assessor since he refused to identify patients with their preferred gender.
The incident surfaced in a very tense anti-trans atmosphere, worsened by the worrying protest at 7 July’s Pride in London march.
Dr. David Mackereth has been working for the NHS for 26 years. However, he was told by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) he can’t become an assessor as he showed a transphobic attitude.
According to Mackereth, a Reformed Baptist and a father of four, a person’s gender is defined by a person’s genitals.
He claimed he has been deemed ‘unfit to work’ due to his religion.
A protest sign reading ‘Stand against anti-trans bigotry.’ | Photo: Flickr/Ted Eytan
The Christian doctor said his freedom of speech is at stake
The medic, from Dudley in the West Midlands, has spent most of his career in Accident and Emergency wards.
He told UK newspaper The Telegraph: ‘I’m not attacking the transgender movement. I am defending my right to freedom of speech and freedom of belief.’
Furthermore, he said: ‘I don’t think I should be compelled to use a specific pronoun. 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.’
‘I could have kept my mouth shut, but it was the right time to raise it’
The 55-year-old started training in May to become a health and disability assessor for the government department.
His role as an assessor at the Department for Work and Pensions would have involved compiling independent reports about the health of those he interviewed who were claiming disability benefits. His instructor said reports must only refer to the patient by their preferred gender.
Dr. Mackereth said as a Christian he believes biology and genetics define a person’s gender.
He added: ‘I could have kept my mouth shut, but it was the right time to raise it.’
Photo: @Tloyd456/Instagram
‘God made humans male or female’
‘I said that I had a problem with this. I believe that gender is defined by biology and genetics,’ the Christian doctor continued.
‘And that as a Christian the Bible teaches us that God made humans male or female.’
He also explained his tutor said he had passed his comments up the chain to the DWP.
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 2010 Equality Act
The DWP stated 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’.
The Act requires equal treatment in access to employment, private and public services. There is no exception regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
‘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,’ said Mackereth.
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