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We’re being forced to change our beliefs, says Christian GP fired over transgender viewsWe’re being forced to change our beliefs, says Christian GP fired over transgender views (msn.com) beliefs, says Christian GP fired over transgender views Steve Bird 6 days ago Like11 Comments| 3 %7B Australia live news updates: Victoria records 20 Covid deaths and NSW 12; Mark… %7B Gisele Bündchen shows off her VERY taut abs while jogging on vacation A doctor sacked from his job for refusing to call a transgender woman “she” is taking his case to the High Court claiming those with “gender-critical beliefs” are being “coerced and threatened”. %7B© Provided by The Telegraph Dr David Mackereth Dr David Mackereth was dismissed in 2018 as a disability assessor for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) after refusing to renounce his Christian belief that gender is determined biologically at birth. He told a manager that he would not call a transgender woman a “she”, adding that his faith meant he could not describe “any 6ft tall bearded man [as] madam’.” The following year, the Reformed Baptist went to an employment tribunal in Birmingham, claiming that he was unfairly dismissed because of his Christain beliefs. He claimed that the DWP’s refusal to allow him to address a client by their biological sex breached his rights to freedom of thought, conscience and rights to practise his religion. The medic told the hearing that he accepted transgender individuals “may find my views to be offensive”, but he had no intention of upsetting people but believed God made humans men or women. However, tribunal judges sitting in October 2019 concluded Dr Mackereth’s Christian belief was not protected by the Equality Act 2010, but was instead “mere opinion” so the DWP had not discriminated against him. They concluded that “his beliefs were likely to cause offence and have the effect of violating a transgender person’s dignity or creating a proscribed environment, or subjecting a transgender person to less favourable treatment”. %7B© Provided by The Telegraph Maya Forstater - Eddie Mulholland for The Telegraph Now, Dr Mackereth and the Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting his challenge, believe that a recent landmark ruling in favour of Maya Forstater will help them overturn his tribunal ruling in the High Court next month. Ms Forstater was sacked from her job at a think tank for saying people cannot change their biological sex. Although she lost her case at tribunal, she won a High Court appeal in 2019 when a judge found gender-critical beliefs fell under the Equalities Act, in part because they “did not seek to destroy the rights of trans persons”. The judge concluded her belief that sex is immutable was a philosophical position protected under equality laws because it fell far short of being an oppressive view, such as Nazism or totalitarianism, intended to harm others. Andrea Williams, the chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said that if Dr Mackereth’s original tribunal ruling was upheld, it would have “seismic consequences not just for the NHS and for Christians, but anyone in the workplace who believes and says we are created male and female”. She said that the judges’ conclusion that a “lack of belief in transgenderism... is incompatible with human dignity and conflict with the rights of others” meant the teachings of the Bible were being placed in a similar category to the beliefs of neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers. Medicine cannot function ‘without moral integrity’ Dr Mackereth, 58, said: “The employment tribunal judgment from two years ago said to Christians ‘you have to believe in transgender ideology’. That is totalitarianism. “It is a difficult issue for everyone in the NHS. There has been an explosion of patients identifying as transgender. The ideology to affirm them is enforced in a complex, coercive and threatening way.” He added: “Everyone in the NHS should be able to say publicly without fear that a person cannot change sex. But instead, we are being forced to accept a massive change to our concept of the medical reality of sex, with no scientific basis for that change. “Without intellectual and moral integrity, medicine cannot function and my 30 years as a doctor are now considered irrelevant compared to the risk that someone else might be offended. “As Christians, we are called to love all people with Christian love. But we cannot love people truly when we live and disseminate a lie.” A DWP spokesman said: “We are unable to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.” Steve Bird 6 days ago Like5 Comments| 2 %7B

We’re being forced to change our beliefs, says Christian GP fired over transgender views Steve Bird 6 days ago Like5 Comments| 2 A doctor sacked from his job for refusing to call a transgender woman “she” is taking his case to the High Court claiming those with “gender-critical beliefs” are being “coerced and threatened”. Dr David Mackereth was dismissed in 2018 as a disability assessor for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) after refusing to renounce his Christian belief that gender is determined biologically at birth. He told a manager that he would not call a transgender woman a “she”, adding that his faith meant he could not describe “any 6ft tall bearded man [as] madam’.” The following year, the Reformed Baptist went to an employment tribunal in Birmingham, claiming that he was unfairly dismissed because of his Christain beliefs. He claimed that the DWP’s refusal to allow him to address a client by their biological sex breached his rights to freedom of thought, conscience and rights to practise his religion. The medic told the hearing that he accepted transgender individuals “may find my views to be offensive”, but he had no intention of upsetting people but believed God made humans men or women. However, tribunal judges sitting in October 2019 concluded Dr Mackereth’s Christian belief was not protected by the Equality Act 2010, but was instead “mere opinion” so the DWP had not discriminated against him. They concluded that “his beliefs were likely to cause offence and have the effect of violating a transgender person’s dignity or creating a proscribed environment, or subjecting a transgender person to less favourable treatment”. %7B© Provided by The Telegraph Maya Forstater - Eddie Mulholland for The Telegraph Now, Dr Mackereth and the Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting his challenge, believe that a recent landmark ruling in favour of Maya Forstater will help them overturn his tribunal ruling in the High Court next month. Ms Forstater was sacked from her job at a think tank for saying people cannot change their biological sex. Although she lost her case at tribunal, she won a High Court appeal in 2019 when a judge found gender-critical beliefs fell under the Equalities Act, in part because they “did not seek to destroy the rights of trans persons”. The judge concluded her belief that sex is immutable was a philosophical position protected under equality laws because it fell far short of being an oppressive view, such as Nazism or totalitarianism, intended to harm others. Andrea Williams, the chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said that if Dr Mackereth’s original tribunal ruling was upheld, it would have “seismic consequences not just for the NHS and for Christians, but anyone in the workplace who believes and says we are created male and female”. She said that the judges’ conclusion that a “lack of belief in transgenderism... is incompatible with human dignity and conflict with the rights of others” meant the teachings of the Bible were being placed in a similar category to the beliefs of neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers. Medicine cannot function ‘without moral integrity’ Dr Mackereth, 58, said: “The employment tribunal judgment from two years ago said to Christians ‘you have to believe in transgender ideology’. That is totalitarianism. “It is a difficult issue for everyone in the NHS. There has been an explosion of patients identifying as transgender. The ideology to affirm them is enforced in a complex, coercive and threatening way.” He added: “Everyone in the NHS should be able to say publicly without fear that a person cannot change sex. But instead, we are being forced to accept a massive change to our concept of the medical reality of sex, with no scientific basis for that change. “Without intellectual and moral integrity, medicine cannot function and my 30 years as a doctor are now considered irrelevant compared to the risk that someone else might be offended. “As Christians, we are called to love all people with Christian love. But we cannot love people truly when we live and disseminate a lie.” A DWP spokesman said: “We are unable to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.” full artical at telegraph news paper