Christian doctor 'sacked for refusing to call transgender patients by their chosen sex'
Dr David Mackereth, who will take his case to an employment tribunal today, said using transgender pronouns was against his Christian beliefs.
A doctor is taking the Government to an employment tribunal claiming he was sacked from his role for refusing to call transgender patients by their chosen sex.
Dr David Mackereth, from Dudley, is said to have worked in A&E departments across the country including the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford.
The 56-year-old, who has been a doctor for around 27 years in the NHS, says he was told he could not be employed as a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) disability assessor.
He has been undergoing training to work as an assessor, says the Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting his legal case.
Lawyers claim Dr Mackereth was asked whether he would refer to patients according to the gender they identify by.
But the doctor said he could not and his contract was then terminated.
Speaking on BBC Radio WM today, Dr Mackereth, said: "I think that we have to treat transgender people very, very sensitively.
"But we also have to act according to the truth.
"I don't believe that a person can change sex. I don't believe that a person can be trapped in the wrong body.
"I do believe that, as a Christian, we have a duty to act according to what is true.
"So yes we have to treat transgender people with compassion but we also have to act according to the truth.
When questioned over his stance, and the psychological effect it could have on transgender people, he added: "The use of pronouns and how we use those little words he and she affects all of our society.
"Those are very important words which hold our society together. If we change how they are used we are opening a very enormous bag of worms.
"So I would also say as well, as a Christian, I have to act according to the truth so what we find here is that we have a problem that we now have two different world views which can't be compatible even in a liberal society and that's one of the things we are going to court to test.
"Whether or not as a Christian I am free to act according to my beliefs or whether I'm going to be forced either to accept someone else's beliefs and act according to those which I cannot hold to or whether as a Christian I'm not fit for employment.
"Certainly if you were disemploy everybody for example in the NHS who holds my views I think there would not an awful lot of people to hold the service together."
His case is due to be heard before a tribunal in Birmingham today.
