A Christian social media influencer and school counsellor is suing her former employer after claiming she was sacked for expressing traditional beliefs about marriage.
Gozen Soydag is claiming wrongful dismissal and discrimination by St Anne's Catholic High School for Girls in Enfield, North London. The lawsuit also alleges that the school breached her human rights as a result of her Christian beliefs.
The 37 year old says she was dismissed by the school for expressing biblical views about marriage on her Instagram account, which has 30,000 followers.
The posts expressed her views about the holiness of marriage, the importance of the traditional nuclear family, purity, cohabitation, and her belief that wives should submit to their husbands.
She was told that the posts had caused "offence" to an anonymous complainant and were "incompatible with the school's ethos".
According to the Christian Legal Centre (CLC), she was told to leave the premises without pay, and was not allowed to say goodbye to students or colleagues despite agreeing to remove a supposedly offensive post.
Soydag is having her case heard over the next three days at Watford Employment Tribunal.
Speaking ahead of the hearing, which started today, Soydag said her dismissal came as a shock and that she felt "persecuted".
"I want to speak up now because traditional Christian marriage in this country is being broken, trampled on, and even marginalised, and what has happened to me really highlights that," she said.
"It is wrong to fire someone because they believe in the institution of marriage. I believe it is wrong to fire someone because their beliefs don't align with yours.
"There is so much talk about diversity in the workplace, yet in this instance, my beliefs and who I am as a Christian were completely excluded. "Christians cannot allow people to walk all over the principles that we stand for. No one has to believe what I believe. Just because I don't believe what someone else believes doesn't mean I can't respect them or work with them."
Andrea Williams, CEO of the Christian Legal Centre, said, "This is another example of schools, which on the surface have a strong Christian ethos, panicking and capitulating to secular orthodoxy and the 'offence' of Christian marriage.
"We rob society of the true picture of marriage when we censor, suppress and dismiss what that true picture is.
"Gozen must be exonerated by the school otherwise what has happened sends a message that Christian beliefs on marriage are now barred from our schools. We will stand by her side as she pursues justice."
Writing in defence of Soydag in The Telegraph, commentator Celia Walden wrote, "Had Soydag been a Muslim, would they really have sacked her? Had she made a mildly anti-Semitic comment on Instagram or unleashed a foul-mouthed tirade on social media at any of the accepted villains of the day (from meat eaters to Trump), would the school even have reprimanded her?"
St Anne's Catholic High School for Girls has been contacted for comment.
