A Christian school worker who was fired for criticising students being taught about LGBT relationships has won a court appeal.
Kristie Higgs was dismissed from Farmor’s School in Fairford, Gloucestershire in 2019 after sharing social media posts criticising LGBT relationship teaching.
Higgs shared and commented on posts which raised concerns about relationship education at her child’s Church of England primary school.
Students were to learn about the No Outsiders In Our School programme - a series of books teaching the Equality Act to primary school pupils.
Higgs shared and commented on posts which raised concerns about relationship education at her child’s school
PA
Higgs shared two posts im 2018 where she referred to “brainwashing our children”.
She was dismissed for gross misconduct after an anonymous complaint was made to the school.
The woman challenged a June 2023 Employment Appeal Tribunal judgment, which ruled in her favour but sent the case back to an employment tribunal for a fresh decision over whether her dismissal was lawful.
In a judgment on Wednesday, three judges ruled in her favour, finding that the decision to remit the case back to an employment tribunal was “unlawfully discriminatory”.
Lord Justice Underhill, sitting with Lord Justice Bean and Lady Justice Falk, said: “In the present case the claimant, who was employed in a secondary school, had posted messages, mostly quoted from other sources, objecting to Government policy on sex education in primary schools because of its promotion of ‘gender fluidity’ and its equation of same-sex marriage with marriage between a man and a woman.”
“It was not in dispute… that the claimant’s beliefs that gender is binary and that same-sex marriage cannot be equated with marriage between a man and a woman are protected by the Equality Act.
“The school sought to justify her dismissal on the basis that the posts in question were intemperately expressed and included insulting references to the promoters of gender fluidity and ‘the LGBT crowd’ which were liable to damage the school’s reputation in the community: the posts had been reported by one parent and might be seen by others.”
“However, neither the language of the posts nor the risk of reputational damage were capable of justifying the claimant’s dismissal in circumstances where she had not said anything of the kind at work or displayed any discriminatory attitudes in her treatment of pupils.”
She continued by saying she hoped today was a “landmark day for Christian freedoms and free speech”
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In a statement following the Court’s judgement, Higgs said: “Expressing biblical Christian teaching on gender and sexuality may appear to be offensive to those who hold the opposite views, but as today’s judgment signals, Christians have a right to express their beliefs publicly.”
“This is not just about me. Too many Christians have suffered discipline or marginalisation at their work because of their Christian faith.”
She continued by saying she hoped today was a “landmark day for Christian freedoms and free speech”.
“Today’s judgment is as important for free speech as it is for freedom of religion.”
She said the court had set a clear standard to protect Christians to express their beliefs without fear of being sacked from their jobs.
