A school pastoral manager in north London plans to appeal an employment tribunal ruling this week that supported a Catholic school firing her over her social media posts in favor of biblical marriage.
Gozen Soydag, a 37-year-old social media influencer in Enfield, England, made the posts available to her 30,000 followers on Instagram, leading to St. Anne’s Catholic High School for Girls firing her in 2023 for “Christian beliefs on marriage and relationships she had expressed and put forward for debate on Instagram in her own time,” according to advocacy group the Christian Legal Centre (CLC).
The Watford Employment Tribunal on Tuesday (Jan. 14) upheld the school’s dismissal. CLC attorneys had argued for wrongful dismissal, harassment, discrimination and breaches of Soydag’s human rights on grounds of her Christian beliefs.
During the tribunal hearings on Dec. 13-17, Jo Saunders, the school assistant head teacher, denied blocking Soydag’s free speech rights, according to a CLC press statement.
“We did not curtail her free speech, we just said that she had to take down her posts,” Saunders reportedly said.
CLC noted that Saunders compared Soydag’s beliefs on Christian marriage to controversial right-wing social media personality Andrew Tate, deeming them “incompatible in modern society.”
In her ruling, Employment Judge Sarah Matthews dismissed each of Soydag’s claims, saying her posts “only celebrated the nuclear family, which could make other students from different backgrounds feel devalued,” reported the CLC.
‘Incompatible’ with Catholic School’s Ethos
Soydag had removed posts in support of biblical marriage after school officials told her they had received an anonymous complaint. School officials told her the expressed biblical beliefs were “incompatible with the school’s ethos,” the CLC stated.
The Catholic school’s mission statement and ethos web page asserts it strives “to follow the teaching and example of Jesus and to help our young people discern God’s call so they use their gifts and talents to live by gospel values,” the CLC noted.
“The school is conducted as a Catholic school in accordance with the Canon Law and the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, and in accordance with the Trust Deed of the Archdiocese of Westminster,” the school’s web page states.
The teaching of the Roman Catholic Church supported by the school is underpinned by biblical views of marriage articulated in Pope Paul VI’s 1968 “Humanae Vitae,” a Vatican document stating that a husband and wife “through that mutual gift of themselves, which is specific and exclusive to them alone, develop that union of two persons in which they perfect one another, cooperating with God in the generation and rearing of new lives.”
Fired for ‘mindset’
Saunders, the school’s assistant deputy head, summoned Soydag on Feb. 9, 2023 and told her about the anonymous complaint regarding her social media posts. At no point was she asked or given the opportunity to explain the purpose of her @wifeinthewaiting Instagram account where the posts appeared, according to the CLC.
Saunders expressed concern to Soydag about her sharing a video showing a woman in Muslim attire talking of her happiness in submitting to her husband, according to the CLC.
“On occasion Miss Soydag would post videos on the theme of marriage and relationships, not because she agreed with the entirety of what she posted, but to generate debate,” added the CLC press statement. “The assistant deputy head told Miss Soydag that this video was concerning because if the same statements were made by a man, they would be deemed ‘misogynistic.’”
Saunders also reportedly stated concerns about Soydag’s posts on the holiness of marriage and importance of traditional nuclear families. Saunders opposed Soydag’s posts supporting sexual purity before marriage and not cohabitating before a wedding, and she also derided Soydag for sharing from Ephesians chapter 5 that wives should “submit to their husbands as to the Lord,” according to the CLC.
At the meeting, Saunders told Soydag that employees must keep social media accounts private.
Soydag removed the video showing the Muslim woman speaking of submitting to her husband. Two weeks later, however, the school summoned Soydag to another meeting about other content on her social media pages. A parent reportedly had strongly disagreed with her expressed Christian beliefs.
Officials handed Soydag a 24-hour ultimatum demanding she ensure her @wifeinthewaiting account was no longer visible on Google search. Soydag tried to explain that due to Google’s functionality this would take two weeks.
“The following day, Miss Soydag told the headteacher [Emma Loveland] what she had done to make her accounts less visible, but was told that her accounts were ‘global,’ that it was ‘too little too late,’ and the beliefs she expressed were openly criticized,” stated the CLC.
When Soydag asked why she was being fired, Loveland reportedly replied that she refused to have “someone with that mindset working at the school.”
Soydag received an email stating she was fired “due to much of your extensive online profile being incompatible with the school’s mission statement and ethos, and the fact that despite being asked to remove such incompatible information, your profile appears to a large extent to remain unchanged.”
“Told to pack up her belongings and leave the premises, Miss Soydag, left in tears without being able to say goodbye to colleagues and students,” added the CLC. “All of this happened on her birthday.”
‘Devastated and Confused’
After the ruling, Soydag said she felt both “devastated and confused” by the court’s decision but will appeal and “fight for justice.”
Recalling her original motives for working in the education sector, she explained a desire to positively impact young people.
“This was a Catholic school, and they knew I was a passionate woman of faith,” Soydag said. “The school’s building is in the shape of the cross. Every classroom had a cross and Bible verses on the walls. This was a place where I believed they accepted Jesus.”
Soydag pointed out that her social media channels were all about the hope of the gospel, especially for women. She stated her beliefs in “God’s blueprint” for “nuclear marriage.”
“I’m not against anyone, I am for God’s blueprint for the family and believe children do best in a nuclear family,” she said. “I want to continue to speak up because traditional Christian marriage in this country is being broken, trampled on, and even marginalized, and what has happened to me really highlights that.”
She said that if complaints had been made about her as a teacher who expressed beliefs as part of “inclusive” culture, she would not have been fired.
“I would have been celebrated and promoted,” she said. “For discussing and debating traditional Christian marriage and family, I was sacked, and that cannot be right.”
Christian Beliefs ‘Barred’
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the CLC, interpreted the judge’s ruling as sending a message that Christian beliefs on marriage are now “barred” from schools in the U.K.
“Every type of relationship and family must be celebrated, but if you celebrate and promote the traditional family on social media, you do so at risk of dismissal,” Williams said. “Gozen unashamedly loves Jesus and is a brilliant advocate for women and God’s great and beautiful plan for marriage.”
Gozen was doing a high level of work in a tough area of London, supporting young women in a Catholic school and had received nothing but praise before someone complained about the beliefs she expressed for debate on her own time, Williams said.
She said the court ruling served as “another example” of a school having an appearance of a Christian ethos but in reality “panicking and capitulating to secular orthodoxy and the ‘offense’ of Christian marriage.”
“The judgment manipulates the facts and evidence to construct a conclusion to suit its ends,” she added. “The whole exercise becomes one of legal fiction, which we intend to overturn through the appeal system.”
