Pronoun preferences are all the rage these days.
Everywhere you go, someone will tell you that they want to be called “he” or “she” or even “they.”
But did you know you could lose your job for refusing to use someone’s “preferred” pronouns?
One Christian doctor discovered that the hard way.
Dr. David Mackereth, a National Health Service employee in Britain, was recently fired for refusing to use a transgender individual’s preferred pronouns.
When a six-foot-tall man with a beard entered Mackereth’s practice demanding to be called “she” and “Mrs.,” Mackereth realized the lunacy of the situation. The patient identified as transgender, but was clearly a biological male – and the doctor addressed him as such.
As a Christian, Mackereth believes that “the Bible teaches us that God made humans male or female” and that “gender is defined by biology and genetics,” not personal preference or desire.
As a physician, Mackereth knows what he’s talking about.
He’s worked in the medical field for over three decades, providing quality care and ethical treatment to many patients over the course of his career.
“No one has ever told me that it’s wrong to use pronouns according to biological sex,” said Mackereth. “It seems normal, it seems natural, it seems important to do that.”
It’s important to Mackereth to uphold the integrity of his profession and his beliefs, regardless of the growing social pressures to accept various sexual and gender orientations.
But his supervisor pressured him to use this patient’s preferred pronouns, despite the fact that the use of those pronouns violated Mackereth’s deeply held religious and personal beliefs.
Mackereth stood firm, saying, “No doctor, or researcher, or philosopher, can demonstrate or prove that a person can change sex.” In other words, the patient’s preferred pronouns were nothing more than a delusion.
Mackereth couldn’t, in good conscience, support the patient’s choice by using “she/her” pronouns.
“Without intellectual and moral integrity, medicine cannot function,” the physician asserted. “What we’re being asked to do now is so contrary to sound reason.”
It would go against his moral code as a doctor—and his understanding of logic and reason—to support a transgender patient’s impossible “transition,” even if he lost his job over his refusal.
Reflecting on the current social situation, Mackereth continued, “My thirty years as a doctor are now considered irrelevant compared to the risk that someone else might be offended.”
And that’s exactly what happened. Mackereth was brought before an Employment Tribunal in England, facing a judge who ruled that his Christian beliefs were “incompatible with human dignity.”
In a terrifying turn of events, the judge ruled that the rights of transgender individuals come before all others. The judge even claimed that belief in the Bible is as dangerous as denying the Holocaust or subscribing to neo-Nazi ideologies.
Mackereth’s beliefs on transgenderism rested on one Bible verse, Genesis 1:27, which states, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
Mackereth believes that any discussion of sex and gender should reflect God’s truth. The doctor said, “It’s quite simply dishonest to use pronouns in that way. As a Christian it really matters whether we use language in an honest or dishonest way.”
Mackereth simply wants to uphold integrity and ethics in his profession, but the tribunal ruled that his religious rights meant nothing and were, in fact, offensive.
The judge declared, “Belief in Genesis 1:27, lack of belief in transgenderism and conscientious objection to transgenderism in our judgment are incompatible with human dignity and conflict with the fundamental rights of others, specifically here, transgender individuals.”
Mackereth eventually lost his job as a result of the ruling.
“It is deeply disturbing that this is the first time in the history of English law that a judge has ruled that free citizens must engage in compelled speech,” said Andrea Williams, Mackereth’s attorney.
“[The judge] ruled that Christianity is not protected by the Equality Act or the ECHR, unless it is a version of Christianity which recognizes transgenderism and rejects a belief in Genesis 1:27,” continued Williams.
Mackereth, who has found another job, plans to appeal on behalf of other Christian physicians who are, and will be, affected by the tribunal’s policy that has “serious ramifications for the practice of medicine in the U.K.”
“Either we’re going to have to go along with this crazy way of thinking or we’re going to have to get out,” the doctor warned grimly.
“I believe that I have to appeal in order to fight for the freedom of Christians—and any other…member of staff—to speak the truth.”
Pray for Mackereth’s case as the appeal goes forward. May God grant the judge wisdom and grace to see the truth and respect physicians’ freedom of speech!
