A volunteer counsellor with the charity Childline was dismissed after raising concerns about the way some young people are rushed into changing gender.
Former barrister James Esses said he was concerned many youngsters were confused about gender identity and, wrongly, were automatically categorised as transgender or fast-tracked into making life-altering decisions such as undergoing major surgery.
But after sharing his concerns on social media, Mr Esses, 29, claims he became a victim of a belief that young children know their own minds about gender.
First, he was told to leave a five-year degree course because of his 'social media activity'.
Ten days later, Childline told him he could no longer be a volunteer counsellor.
'I just wanted an open and honest debate about a hugely important topic – I'm not sure what is wrong with that,' Mr Esses told The Mail on Sunday.
He is now taking legal action against the Metanoia Institute in West London, where he was studying for a Masters in psychotherapy.
His case comes amid growing disquiet among mental health professionals and parents over the increasing numbers of children and teenagers being allowed to change gender.
Many therapists, argued Mr Esses, fear being labelled 'transphobic' for questioning children's claims they should have been born the opposite sex.
He warned that, rather than receiving therapy to explore any underlying issues, youngsters are often speedily referred for 'irreversible' medical treatments to help them swap gender.
Former barrister James Esses (pictured) said he was concerned many youngsters were confused about gender identity and, wrongly, were automatically categorised as transgender or fast-tracked into making life-altering decisions such as undergoing major surgery
After joining Childline as a counsellor in 2015, he says he noticed an 'increase in the number of young people coming through who said they were in the wrong body. The youngest was about ten or 11.'
Meanwhile, the way some fellow Childline counsellors were handling calls caused him alarm.
He felt they didn't explore properly why children were unhappy with their gender.
Instead, they simply 'affirmed' their belief to be transgender.
Mr Esses said: 'They would just go through the motions of affirming their transition with no form of exploration whatsoever.
'I was shocked that young people were making potentially irreversible decisions about their lives, and potentially irreversible physical and emotional changes, yet no one was willing to have a dialogue about what is the best treatment.'
He felt many youngsters he dealt with seemed to have no real concept of what changing gender actually meant.
He said: 'With the younger children, I realised there was so much they had absorbed from other people, whether it was through online chat rooms or on other organisations' pages.'
He said he became increasingly convinced that 'exploration' of their problems was a better way to help.
'I spent hours with them exploring the underlying causes and other ways of looking at things.
'By the end
