The past few years have seen American’s First Amendment rights tested in ways most couldn’t have imagined.
People are told that they shouldn’t question everything and thinking differently can put you in a very bad spot.
Now this Christian doctor is pushing back on a woke hospital for violating her right to religious freedoms.
Valerie Kloosterman decided to stand up when her employer told her to agree “gender is fluid”
Valerie Kloosterman used to be a doctor at Michigan Health – an affiliate of Michigan University.
She had worked for the group for 17 years and never had an incident until she decided to stand up for her religious beliefs at work.
She says that after she was forced to attend a diversity training for employees, she decided it was time to request religious exemption.
At the training she said, “two of the questions that year were very specific in confirming that gender was fluid” and she was forced to respond to them.
It was distressing for her because “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 . . .”
She was called “evil” and a “liar” when she just wanted to be in “good conscience to God”
She decided to speak up anyway and went on to say “I am a Christian . . . and I cannot answer these questions in good conscience to God and understanding the harm it can do to my patients . . .”
According to Kloosterman it got much worse at that point – “The meeting became hostile. I was called evil. I was called a liar.”
She even said they told her that she was a part of the problem and that she was contributing to suicides related to gender dysphoria.
That didn’t stop her from standing up for herself.
She explained, “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.”
Kloosterman is suing after hospital tried to force her to pledge against religious beliefs
Shortly after the interaction she was terminated and now she’s suing the hospital for wrongful termination and discrimination.
According to her attorneys, 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.”
They also point out that all three reasons listed for her termination were “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.”
Michigan Health says they respect “religious beliefs” but Koosterman’s complaints are “without merit”
According to the hospital they are “committed to providing appropriate medical treatment to all patients and respects the religious beliefs of its employees” but that her complaints are “without merit.”
The question that must be answered is whether her beliefs were sincerely held.
The hospital received her request for exemption, but they simply chose not to comply with her wishes.
All she wanted to do was use pronouns of patients associated with their gender at birth and to avoid having to discuss gender transition drugs with patients.
That is far from a radical stance and most Americans put in the same position would have had the same issues.
US Political Daily will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
