Government Drops Doctor Who Says Gender Given at Birth

Adoctor has been “sacked” as a medical assessor for a government department after refusing to renounce his Christian belief that gender is determined at birth, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

Dr David Mackereth has worked for 26 years as an NHS doctor but was told he could not be employed as a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) disability assessor if he refused to identify patients as being of a sex that they did not see themselves as.

The 55-year-old father of four believes sex is genetic and biological, so established at birth.

He now claims his right to freedom of speech has been denied and he has been classed “unfit” to work for the department because of his religious convictions.

And, the medic from Dudley in the West Midlands fears many other professional people of faith could also be dismissed simply for holding opinions about gender that are “centuries old”. Amazon.com Gift Card i... Buy New $25.00 (as of 11:14 UTC - Details)

Dr Mackereth, who registered as a doctor in 1989 and spent most of his career working in Accident & Emergency wards, said: “I’m not attacking the transgender movement. But, I’m defending my right to freedom of speech, and freedom of belief.

“I don’t believe 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.”

Dr Mackereth, a Reformed Baptist, started a training course in May to become a health and disability assessor for the DWP. His role would have meant interviewing and then writing independent reports about the health of those claiming disability benefits.

However, when his instructor stated that reports must only refer to the patient – or “client” – by the sex that person identified themselves as, a discussion took place among the medics about the “fluid” nature of gender, Dr Mackereth claims.

“I said that I had a problem with this. 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. I could have kept my mouth shut. But, it was the right time to raise it.

“The tutor took me aside and said he had passed my comments up the chain to the DWP.”

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.

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