In Higgs v. Farmor's School, (EWCA, Feb. 12, 2025), Britain's Court of Appeal held that the dismissal of a teacher because of posts on her personal Facebook page reflecting her Christian-based objections to schools teaching children about same-sex marriage and gender fluidity constituted unlawful discrimination on the ground of religion or belief in violation of the Equality Act 2010. The court said in part:
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.
Lord Justice Falk filed a brief concurring opinion.
