A U.K. woman fired for speaking out against transgender and sex education lessons taught at her son’s Church of England primary school won an appeal Friday after a judge overturned a previous ruling upholding her dismissal.
Kristie Higgs said she was initially fired from her role as a teaching assistant at the Farmor’s School in Fairford, Gloucestershire, England, after an anonymous person noticed her Facebook posts speaking out against her son’s school’s plan to introduce books containing transgender ideology and reported the posts to the head teacher.
Though the school says otherwise, she maintains the firing was an attack on her Christian faith.
Kristie Higgs lost her job as a pastoral assistant at a Church of England primary school after an anonymous person complained about her Facebook post. (Christian Concern)
President of the Employment Appeal Tribunal in London Jennifer Eady ruled in Higgs’ favor Friday, arguing that “the freedom to manifest belief (religious or otherwise) and to express views relating to that belief are essential rights in any democracy.”
She added that the right to manifest the beliefs, no matter who they might offend, is protected without limits.
A protester voices support for the promotion of transgender ideology in schools during a pro-transgender march in October 2022. (Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images)
According to the BBC, Higgs’ case will now head back for a fresh tribunal.
“I am pleased that the courts have overturned the previous judgment, but I am frustrated by the further delays to receiving justice,” she said of the decision.
“I was, and still am, appalled by the sexual ideology that was being introduced to my son’s Church of England primary school… Since I lost the job I loved, there has been so many disturbing revelations about transgender ideology in schools and children being taught inappropriate sex education. I feel so justified and vindicated for sharing and expressing the concerns that I did.”