'Legal precedent' | Worker sacked over LGBT+ Facebook posts wins right to new tribunal

A teaching assistant who was sacked over her beliefs on LGBT+ education will be given the chance of a new employment tribunal, after a previous ruling had upheld her dismissal.

Kristie Higgs was sacked from Farmor’s School in Gloucestershire in 2019 for sharing two Facebook posts that raised concerns about how transgender and compulsory sex education was to be taught at her son’s Church of England (CofE) primary school.

The 46-year-old had shared a Facebook post regarding planned teaching of LGBT+ relationships in primary schools, adding her own caption that this plan was "brainwashing our children", before urging people to share the post and sign a petition against the plans.

An anonymous complaint was made to the headteacher which included allegations of ‘illegal discrimination’, ‘serious inappropriate use of social media’, and ‘online comments that could bring the school into disrepute and damage the reputation of the school’, and she was subsequently dismissed.