Kristie Higgs, the Christian school assistant who was dismissed after sharing Facebook posts that her employer deemed transphobic and homophobic, has won her case at the Court of Appeal.

Higgs, 48, who has denied being homophobic or transphobic, has been locked in a six-year legal battle with former bosses at Farmor’s School in Fairford, Gloucestershire.

In 2023, at the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT), the judge granted Higgs permission to appeal the original 2020 tribunal ruling. However, instead of allowing all of her grounds of appeal to proceed, she denied her an outright win by ruling that the case should be remitted back to the employment tribunal (ET) to be reheard.

That decision has now been overturned in a ground-breaking decision, handed down this morning by Lord Justice Underhill, Lord Justice Bean and Lady Justice Falk.

The ruling confirms that the Equality Act protects traditional Christian beliefs on social issues, such as opposition to the ideas of transgenderism, ‘gender-fluidity’ and same-sex marriage.

The judgment re-shapes the law on freedom of religion in the workplace, according to Christian Concern, which backed Higgs’ case. It effectively establishes a legal presumption that any dismissal for an expression or manifestation of Christian faith is illegal.

The Court of Appeal explained that the burden is on the employer to prove in the employment tribunal that any such dismissal can be objectively justified, not just that the employer believed to be justified.

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It ruled that such a dismissal would only be lawful if it was objectively justified as prescribed by law and necessary in a democratic society.

Farmor’s School argued during the case that its justification for sacking Mrs Higgs was not to do with her Christian beliefs but because of the language she used in the social media posts.

This argument, however, was rejected by the judges, who said that Higgs’ dismissal 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 judgment added: “There was no evidence that the reputation of the school had thus far been damaged: its concern was about potential damage in the future… As it also accepted, there was no possibility that, even if readers of the posts associated the claimant with the school, they would believe that they represented its own views.

“Any reputational damage would only take the form of the fear expressed by the complainant, namely that the claimant [Higgs] might express at work the homophobic and transphobic attitudes arguably implicit in the language used. I accept that if that belief became widespread it could harm the school’s reputation in the community, as the panel clearly thought. But the risk of widespread circulation was speculative at best.”

‘Unquestionably a disproportionate response’

The ruling explained that the posts were made on her personal Facebook account, in her maiden name and with no reference to the school.

“Even if readers of the posts might fear that the claimant would let her views influence her work, neither the panel nor the ET believed that she would do so,” continued the judgment. “There was no reason to doubt her assertion that her concern was specifically about the content of sex education in primary schools; that she ‘wouldn’t bring this into school’; and that she would never treat gay or trans pupils differently. There had indeed been no complaints about any aspect of her work for over six years.”

The judges said they did believe “that dismissal was even arguably a proportionate sanction for the claimant’s conduct”.

The Court therefore overruled the earlier decision of EAT to remit the case for a re-trial, and concluded: “We should ourselves hold that the claimant’s dismissal constituted unlawful discrimination on the ground of religion and belief.”

Responding to the Court of Appeal decision, Higgs said: “In October 2018, I shared two private Facebook posts to raise awareness of the gender ideology that was going to be taught to young children in schools as part of statutory Relationships and Sex Education.

“Because of those posts, I lost my job. Today, after nearly seven years, the Court of Appeal has finally put that right.

“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.”

Landmark day

She added: “I give all the praise, glory and honour to my God. It is by his grace and mercy that I stand here today.

“I pray that today will prove to be a landmark day for Christian freedoms and free speech. Christians have the right to express their beliefs on social media and at other non-work-related settings without fear of being punished by their employer.

“Expressing biblical truth is not discriminatory. It is an expression of love and of light.

“Today’s judgment is as important for free speech as it is for freedom of religion. Employers will no longer be able to rely on their theoretical fears of reputational damage or subjective concerns about causing offence to discipline employees for exercising their fundamental freedom to express their deeply held beliefs.

“The Court of Appeal has now set a clear standard to protect people like me, and the countless other Christians in this nation, to express their beliefs without fear of losing their jobs.”

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “Free speech and religious liberty are not yet extinguished from the English law. The outcome of Kristie’s case sets an important legal precedent for many years to come.

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

“This is a great victory for Kristie, who lost her job and livelihood for doing no more than expressing her dismay at the nonsensical ideas of gender-fluidity being taught to her child at a Church of England primary school.”

Background to Higgs v Farmor’s School

Higgs lost her job after expressing views about how LGBT relationships and sex education (RSE) were taught in schools. The posts in 2018 were shared on her private Facebook profile and did not name her employer.

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The school received complaints about the posts and she was later dismissed for gross misconduct in relation to discrimination, inappropriate use of social media and online comments. She claimed that her views were compared with Nazism when the school questioned her about the posts.

The original tribunal dismissed Higgs’ case against Farmor’s school, finding it did not directly discriminate or harass her on the basis of her religion. The ruling acknowledged that Higgs’ beliefs are protected by the Equality Act, but found she was dismissed because some of the content in the articles she had linked to could lead someone to think that she “was hostile towards the LGBT community, and trans people in particular”.

In taking her case to the EAT, lawyers successfully appealed the inclusion of two appeal panel members for their apparent bias, one a trans activist with links to Stonewall, the other a senior trade unionist at the National Education Union, which had backed making RSE mandatory in primary schools.

Both lay members were recused and the EAT judge, Justice Eady, eventually heard the case alone.

In June 2023, Eady said: “The freedom to manifest belief (religious or otherwise) and to express views relating to that belief are essential rights in any democracy, whether or not the belief in question is popular or mainstream and even if its expression may offend.”

Appealing Eady’s decision, Kristie Higgs’ lawyers argued that sending her case back to the same ET which had already made serious errors risked her being denied justice once again.

Ruling that the appeal raises a series of “important questions”, Lady Justice Elisabeth Laing last year allowed the case to proceed on all grounds to the Court of Appeal, which heard the case in October 2024.

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