Christian free speech case to be decided by UK Court of Appeal

When Kristie Higgs shared her personal concerns about sex education and gender identity on Facebook, she couldn’t have envisaged the consequences or imagined how long it would take.

Fired from her job at a Gloucestershire school in the UK, Kristie has been entangled in a legal battle for nearly six years. Her case has now reached the Court of Appeal, where the ruling could have a lasting impact on free speech and religious freedom in the workplace, setting a crucial precedent for employees across the country.

Kristie is a Christian who was dismissed from her employment with a school for social media posts which she made privately to her friends, in which she criticised the promotion of LGBT education and gender identity concepts, particularly to young children. The school deemed her posts to be ‘gross misconduct’, claiming they were discriminatory, despite Kristie's claim that her views were an expression of her deeply held Christian beliefs.

Initially, an Employment Tribunal ruled against Kristie, acknowledging her right to hold Christian views but arguing that her posts might be perceived as hostile to LGBT individuals. Kristie appealed this decision, and the Employment Appeal Tribunal found that the original tribunal had failed to properly assess whether her posts were a legitimate manifestation of her faith.

Kristie is being supported by the Christian Legal Centre as the matter comes before the Court of Appeal, the second highest court in the UK.

Andrea Williams, Chief Executive of Christian Concern and the Christian Legal Centre, has said:

“The outcome of the appeal is not only important for Christians, but for the public in general, as it will likely set out to what extent people have a right to publicly manifest their deeply held beliefs without fear of losing their jobs”.

For Kristie, as well as losing her job, the process has been the punishment. 

As Andrea Williams has said:

“It’s been a long road to the Court of Appeal for Kristie. 

The extreme nature of her dismissal and the difficulties she has faced in finding an unbiased treatment of her case speaks to the everyday difficulties facing Christians in today’s culture.

Christianity is for all of life. We are called to be salt and light wherever we go. We cannot hide our light under a bushel. We are Christians at home, at work and on social media. That’s why free speech is particularly important to us. That’s why so many of the crucial cases around free speech have been Christian Legal Centre cases – because it is mostly Christians who are targeted when free speech is suppressed”.

HRLA client Lyle Shelton has similarly been subject to a lengthy legal ordeal, enduring three and a half years of uncertainty in relation to a complaint of vilification made against him. While he was originally successful, with the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal finding that Lyle’s blogs criticising drag queen story time for children at a local public library did not amount to vilification, the applicants have since appealed the decision. This means that Lyle will now need to wait longer and spend more money to have his matter resolved. 

Lyle's case highlights the risk Australians face when they publicly express personal or religious beliefs. Even if the complaint fails, the process itself acts as a punishment. The low bar for making and accepting complaints under vilification and anti-discrimination laws, as well as the ease with which complainants can force conciliation conferences means that claimants pursue cases through to the Tribunal stage even when there is no real prospect of success. Defendants like Lyle, even without a proven breach of the law, can face significant time, costs, and stress in defending themselves. 

Australia’s anti-discrimination and vilification laws are in urgent need of reform.

A successful outcome for Kristie in the Court of Appeal will be important in protecting free speech and “upholding the freedom of Christians to work in ordinary jobs without their Christian beliefs being silenced”.

Kristie’s matter is due to be heard on 2 October 2024.