School worker sacked for calling LGBTQ+ lessons ‘brainwashing’ wins appeal

A Christian school worker who was dismissed after describing LGBTQ+ relationship lessons as ‘brainwashing’ has won a Court of Appeal battle.

Kristie Higgs, 47, was dismissed from Farmor’s School in Fairford, Gloucestershire, in 2019 over a Facebook post criticising plans to teach about queer relationships in primary schools.

She challenged a 2023 employment appeal tribunal judgement that ruled in her favour but sent the case back to an employment tribunal for a fresh decision over whether her dismissal was lawful.

Today, the Royal Courts of Justice upheld her claim, finding the decision to send the case back to a tribunal ‘unlawfully discriminatory’.

In October 2018, Higgs commented on Facebook about how her son’s Church of England primary school was going to teach about LGBTQ+ relationships.

Pupils were to learn about the No Outsiders In Our School programme, books that teach about the Equality Act, the bedrock of anti-discrimination law in the UK.

She wrote: ‘PLEASE READ THIS! THEY ARE BRAINWASHING CHILDREN.’

The former pastoral administrator said teaching that ‘all relationships are equally valid’ and that ‘same-sex marriage is exactly the same as traditional marriage’ amounts to a ‘viscous form of totalitarianism’.

Higgs, a mother of two, also claimed that ‘gender is a matter of choice, not biology’ in the post, under her maiden name, shared with her 100 friends.

Another Facebook status referred to ‘suppressing Christianity and removing it from the public arena’.

An anonymous person complained about Higgs’ social media activity, leading to school officials suspending her and, after a disciplinary hearing, dismissal for gross misconduct.

The school said her sacking was down to the language in her posts, which it said was homophobic and transphobic, and not her religious beliefs.

Higgs, who also worked as a work experience manager, alleged unlawful discrimination.

In a 2020 ruling, a tribunal ruled that Higgs’ religion is a ‘protected characteristic’ but the school lawfully dismissed her.

The ruling was overturned by an appeal tribunal three years later.

Lord Justice Underhill, sitting with Lord Justice Bean and Lady Justice Falk, ruled in Higgs’ favour today.

Lord Underhill 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.’

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, a legal aid group that supported Higgs, said today’s decision was a ‘great victory’.

‘The Court of Appeal has confirmed, loud and clear, that ideological censorship at workplace is illegal, and any employer who tramples upon their employees’ right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion breaks the law of the land,’ she said.

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