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20th October 2022
02:38pm BST
A Christian doctor at a Michigan hospital is suing her former employer, claiming they sacked her when she asked not to use transgender pronouns.
Valerie Kloosterman worked as a physician assistant for Michigan Health for 17 years before being allegedly fired. She said she refused to referring patients for transgender surgical procedures or refer to people as 'they' because it went against her religious grounds.
Kloosterman, a mother-of-four, had requested to be placed in religious accommodation so that she did not have to use transgender pronouns or make referrals for 'gender transition' drugs and procedures.
But the University of Michigan Health-West hospital denied her the religious accommodation and allegedly fired her on August 24, 2021, because she refused to adhere to their policy on transgender patients.
Kloosterman, who had never had an incident during her time at the hospital, is now suing because she believes her termination was the result of "unlawful religious discrimination", according to court documents filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Michigan.
It all came to a head when the University of Michigan Health-West hospital set up mandatory diversity training for employees.
"Two of the questions that year were very specific in confirming that gender was fluid, and I had to select the box," the doctor told Fox News.
"It was not an option for me to state my concerns, and I could not complete this mandatory test without answering that question the way they wanted me to based on the university's belief, and so I raised my concerns."
She was then apparently involved in hostile discussions with the hospital's diversity, equity and inclusion department, where she claims she was branded "evil" and a "liar". Kloosterman said that she was even allegedly blamed for gender dysphoria-related suicides. [caption id="attachment_364141" align="alignnone" width="776"]
The University of Michigan Health-West hospital denied Kloosterman the religious accommodation and allegedly fired her on August 24, 2021, because she refused to adhere to their policy on transgender patients (Google)[/caption]
She claims no patient ever asked her for a referral for gender transition drugs or treatments and that she "never used pronoun's contrary to a patient's wishes."
"I said I am a Christian, which means I'm a Christian physician assistant, and I cannot answer these questions in good conscience to God and understanding the harm it can do to my patients; this is not fair," Kloosterman said.
"The meeting became hostile. I was called evil. I was called a liar. And I very compassionately gave my point of what my concern was from a medical standpoint from my medical judgment, as well as in good conscience to God, and I should never have been asked to compromise my faith to be able to do my job."
Lawyers representing the doctor said in a court filing that the hospital "attempted to compel Ms Kloosterman to pledge, against her sincerely held religious convictions and her medical conscience, that she would speak biology-obscuring pronouns and make referrals for 'gender transition' drugs and procedures." Her lawyers listed three reasons for firing Kloosterman, "all of which directly related to her sincerely held religious beliefs about gender identity and to her conscientious objection to assisting in the provision of certain 'gender reassignment' drugs and procedures."They added: "If not for Ms. Kloosterman's religious beliefs about gender and sexuality, she would not have been fired."
A UMH-West spokesperson said in a statement: 'University of Michigan Health-West is committed to providing appropriate medical treatment to all patients and respects the religious beliefs of its employees. We are confident Ms. Kloosterman's claims, like those she filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, are without merit.'
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