A Christian doctor in the UK was fired for refusing to use hypothetical transgender pronouns for patients during a training session.
A court ruling followed by two separate appeals supported his being terminated; it is believed to be the first time in the history of English law where a judge ruled that free citizens must engage in “compelled speech” pertaining to transgender ideology.
Disappointed, the doctor in question, Dr. David Mackereth, 60, has since been partially vindicated by a UK professional regulator, the General Medical Council (GMC). Mackereth is now pursuing an appeal for justice from the European Court of Human Rights.
A practicing doctor for 26 years, Mackereth refused to call a man a woman or vice versa during a training session, citing that his biblical Christian beliefs prohibited it. That resulted in Mackereth being fired from his position as a health and disability assessor by his employer, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The DWP said his failure to accommodate patients’ gender preferences amounts to “harassments” under the Equality Act 2010.
In response, supported by the Christian Legal Centre, Mackereth then launched a legal claim accusing the DWP of discriminating against his Christian and philosophical beliefs, though that claim fell short before the Employment Tribunal. His dismissal was deemed lawful.
Despite the verdict being partially overturned by the Employment Appeals Tribunal in May 2022, both the tribunal and, subsequently, the Court of Appeals also ruled that the firing was justified.
Yet, Mackereth recently received vindication in a response from the GMC regulative body. Without other avenues, Mackereth had self-referred to the GMC asking them to determine whether his fitness to practice was impaired by his Christian and “gender-critical” beliefs.
Responding, a letter from the GMC to Mackereth in June 2023 amounted to what some called the “first time a professional regulator have considered the issue of ‘misgendering’ and ruled in favour of one of their members,” the Christian Legal Centre stated in a press release.
In a hypothetical situation, Mackereth had been confronted with whether he would call a 6-foot bearded man “madam,” which he refused to do. Yet he insisted, as a Christian doctor, he “would never refuse to treat a patient who was in need;” and at no point in his career had he encountered a patient who asked to be identified as a different gender.
By Michael Wing
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