A militant trans activist, appointed as a lay Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) panel member, has been removed from a Christian’s unfair dismissal case because of the appearance of bias.
Kristie Higgs claimed unfair dismissal by her school after she was sacked in 2019 for sharing social media posts criticising the introduction of teaching about LGBT relationships in primary school. She lost her claim at the Employment Tribunal and her appeal was due to be heard in June.
However, it emerged that panel member Edward Lord OBE had made three public statements on Twitter relating to key issues in the case. Furthermore, Mx Lord (as he is referred to) publicly holds strong views opposed to ‘gender critical’ views, which he equates with ‘transphobia’.
Mx Lord has held judicial office for nearly 20 years and is a communicant member of the Church of England.
The president of the EAT, Jennifer Eady, concluded that standing in the shoes of the fair-minded and informed observer, there was real doubt in his ability to approach the matter impartially and with an entirely open mind.
She went on to say that a fair-minded observer could not dismiss Ms Higgs’ objections that his Tweets showed an intolerance of the ‘value judgements’ she had expressed. The judge also made clear that, in future, lay members should raise any potential issues that could suggest bias with the judge – which should be reassuring to any Christian involved in similar proceedings in future.
No date has yet been given for Ms Higgs’ appeal hearing.
