Judges have ruled that Kristie Higgs was wrongly sacked over social media posts that criticised the use of gender ideology in classrooms.
The school administrator won a six-year battle over the right to express Christian beliefs after senior judges said on 12 February that she was unfairly dismissed by the school where she worked over comments she had made in a private capacity on <em>Facebook</em>, <a href="https://www.thetimes.com/uk/law/article/christian-school-worker-wins-six-year-battle-over-expressing-beliefs-t6vbchzvm"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">reports</mark></a> <em>The Times</em>.
The case had been <mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><a href="https://thecatholicherald.com/christian-teacher-sacked-for-facebook-posts-on-lgbt-lessons-heads-to-uk-courts-in-landmark-trial-for-freedom-of-speech-and-conscience/">seen as a landmark freedom of conscience tria</a>l</mark>, and lawyers for Ms Higgs have predicted that the ruling in the Court of Appeal will have “significant ramifications for Christian freedom in the workplace".
Her lawyers said the judgment would boost “the freedom of any employee to express biblical principles on marriage and family, some of which may express opposition to LGBTQI-plus ideology, in public or private, without the fear of losing their livelihoods”.
Higgs claimed that senior staff at Farmor’s School in Fairford, Gloucestershire, compared her views to those of “Nazi right-wing extremists” after the head teacher was passed a screenshot of one of her private Facebook posts, <em>The Times</em> reports.
It notes that the mother of two, who before she was sacked had spent seven years as a pastoral worker and administrator, sued the school at the Bristol employment tribunal for discrimination in a claim that sought more than £55,000 in damages.
In their ruling, three appeal judges said that Higgs’s sacking “was unquestionably a disproportionate response”, and that “even if the language of the re-posts passes the threshold of objectionability, it is not grossly offensive”.
The judges, led by Lord Justice Underhill, the vice-president of the Court of Appeal, added that “there was no evidence that the reputation of the school had thus far been damaged” and that “there was no possibility that, even if readers of the posts associated [Higgs] with the school, they would believe that [the posts] represented its own views”.
Speaking about the ruling on the steps of the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Higgs gave <a href="https://christianconcern.com/news/kristie-gives-thanks-to-god-for-her-free-speech-win/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">thanks to God for her free speech victory</mark></a> at the Court of Appeal and said that “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”.
In 2019, Mrs Higgs was dismissed for alleged gross misconduct by Farmor’s School in Fairford, Gloucestershire, after sharing Facebook posts criticising plans to teach about LGBT-related relationships in primary schools.
Mrs Higgs specifically raised concerns about relationship education at her son’s Church of England primary school. Pupils there were to learn about the No Outsiders In Our School programme, which is a series of books that proclaims to deliver the objectives outlined in the Equality Act 2010 and to prepare “children for life in modern Britain”.
In 2018, Mrs Higgs, who at the time posted on Facebook under her maiden name, shared two posts in October of that year to about 100 friends.
One of the posts referred to “brainwashing our children”, and, referencing the No Outsiders In Our School classes, suggested: “Children will be taught that all relationships are equally valid and ‘normal’, so that same-sex marriage is exactly the same as traditional marriage, and gender is a matter of choice, not biology, so that it’s up to them what sex they are.”
She added: “We say again this is a vicious form of totalitarianism aimed at suppressing Christianity and removing it from the public arena.”
Subsequently, an anonymous complaint was made to the school and Mrs Higgs was suspended and, after a disciplinary hearing, dismissed for gross misconduct.
Following her dismissal, Mrs Higgs took the school to an employment tribunal, arguing she had been unlawfully discriminated against because of her Christian beliefs.
<a href="https://thecatholicherald.com/christian-teacher-sacked-for-facebook-posts-on-lgbt-lessons-heads-to-uk-courts-in-landmark-trial-for-freedom-of-speech-and-conscience/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><strong><em>RELATED: Christian teacher sacked for Facebook posts on LGBT classes heads to Law Courts for landmark freedom of conscience trial</em></strong></mark></a>
<em>Photo: Kristie Higgs speaking about the ruling on the steps of the Royal Courts of Justice in London, 12 February 2025. (Screenshot from <a href="https://christianconcern.com/news/kristie-gives-thanks-to-god-for-her-free-speech-win/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">christianconcern.com</mark></a>.)</em>
