A Christian school worker who was dismissed after sharing social media posts criticising the teaching of LGBT relationships at her son’s school has won a key Court of Appeal battle related to her dismissal. The Mail has more.
Kristie Higgs lost her role as a Pastoral Administrator and Work Experience Manager at Farmor’s School in Fairford, Gloucestershire, in 2019 after sharing Facebook posts criticising plans to teach about LGBT relationships in primary schools.
The mother-of-two 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 – the latest stage of her years-long legal battle – three appeal judges ruled in her favour, saying that while her conduct was “unwise” it was “disproportionate” to fire her.
They found 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.”
Mrs Higgs, from Fairford, had shared and commented on posts raising concerns about relationship education at her son’s Church of England primary school – not the one at which she worked.
Pupils were to learn about the No Outsiders In Our School programme, a series of books teaching the Equality Act in primary schools and which her supporters say involved discussion of “confusing and harmful gender identity”.
Mrs Higgs, who was posting on Facebook under her maiden name, shared two posts in October 2018 to about 100 friends, one of which referred to “brainwashing our children”.
The first post encouraged people to sign a petition – set up by someone else – challenging the Government’s plans to introduce Relationships and Sex Education to children in primary schools.
The second shared an article on the rise of transgender ideology in children’s books in American schools, with Mrs Higgs adding her own comment: “This is happening in our primary schools now.”
An anonymous complaint was made to the school and Mrs Higgs was suspended and, after a disciplinary hearing, dismissed for gross misconduct.
Mrs Higgs, supported by the Christian Legal Centre, took the school to an employment tribunal, arguing she had been unlawfully discriminated against because of her Christian beliefs.
Worth reading in full.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.