Christian school worker wins appeal after being sack for anti-LGBTQ comment

A Christian school employee who was fired after expressing her feelings about transgender books in primary schools has won an appeal.

According to the DailyMail, Kristie Higgs, a teaching assistant at a school in Gloucestershire, was fired after she expressed her worries about plans to teach transgender topics to primary school children on Facebook.

She claimed she was fired unfairly by Farmor’s School in Fairford, Gloucestershire, after being fired for gross misbehaviour in 2019. She accused the school of discrimination and harassment, but she was unsuccessful in her case before an employment tribunal.

However, the mother-of-two has won an appeal against the judgement when a judge declared that “the freedom to manifest belief (religious or otherwise)… are essential rights in any democracy.”

The case will now be sent back for rehearing.

Mrs Higgs said she was still ‘appalled by the sexual ideology that was being introduced to my son’s Church of England primary school’.

In a ruling on Monday, Judge Jonathan Swift said that Higgs had been unfairly dismissed and that her freedom of religious belief had been infringed.

Freedom of religious belief is essential in a democracy,” he said. “It is important that people are able to express their beliefs without fear of reprisal.”

Higgs, who is a member of the Free Church of England, said she was “delighted” with the ruling.

“I am glad that the judge has seen that I was simply expressing my beliefs and that I should not have been sacked for doing so,” she said.

‘From the beginning, despite the many attempts by the school to suggest otherwise, this has always been about my Christian beliefs and me being discriminated against for expressing them in my own time.

‘I was, and still am, appalled by the sexual ideology that was being introduced to my son’s Church of England primary school.

‘I will never forget the moment, shaking and tearful, that I was ordered to leave the school premises after my Christian beliefs were aligned with Nazism.’

The case has raised questions about the role of religion in schools and the extent to which teachers should be allowed to express their personal beliefs in the classroom. More so, the Free Church of England has welcomed the ruling and said it is “a victory for freedom of speech and religious belief”.

“This is a landmark case that will have implications for schools across the country,” said a spokesperson for the church. “It is important that teachers are able to express their beliefs without fear of reprisal.”