A college 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, resulting in St. Anne’s Catholic High School for Girls firing her in 2023 for “Christian beliefs on marriage and relationships she had expressed and recommend for debate on Instagram in her own time,” based on advocacy group the Christian Legal Centre (CLC).
The Watford Employment Tribunal on Tuesday upheld the varsity’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 in December, Jo Saunders, the varsity assistant head teacher, denied blocking Soydag’s free speech rights, based on a CLC press statement.
“We didn’t curtail her free speech, we just said that she needed 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 family unit, 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’d received an anonymous grievance. School officials told her the expressed biblical beliefs were “incompatible with the varsity’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 assist our young people discern God’s call in order that they use their gifts and abilities 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 varsity’s web page states.
The teaching of the Roman Catholic Church supported by the varsity 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 restricted and exclusive to them alone, develop that union of two individuals during which they perfect each other, cooperating with God within the generation and rearing of recent lives.”
Fired for ‘mindset’
Saunders, the varsity’s assistant deputy head, summoned Soydag on February 9, 2023 and told her in regards to the anonymous grievance regarding her social media posts. At no point was she asked or given the chance to clarify the aim of her @wifeinthewaiting Instagram account where the posts appeared, based on the CLC.
Saunders expressed concern to Soydag about her sharing a video showing a girl in Muslim attire talking of her happiness in submitting to her husband, based on the CLC.
“On occasion Miss Soydag would post videos on the theme of marriage and relationships, not because she agreed with the whole lot 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 identical statements were made by a person, they might be deemed ‘misogynistic.'”
At the meeting, Soydag says she was told 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, nonetheless, the varsity summoned Soydag to a different meeting about other content on her social media pages. A parent reportedly had strongly disagreed together with her expressed Christian beliefs.
Officials handed Soydag a 24-hour ultimatum demanding she ensure her @wifeinthewaiting account was now not visible on Google search. Soydag says she tried to clarify that because of Google’s functionality this may 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 varsity.”
Soydag received an email stating she was fired “because of much of your extensive online profile being incompatible with the varsity’s mission statement and ethos, and the proven fact that despite being asked to remove such incompatible information, your profile appears to a big extent to stay unchanged.”
“Told to pack up her belongings and leave the premises, Miss Soydag, left in tears without with the ability 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 each “devastated and confused” by the court’s decision but will appeal and “fight for justice.”
Recalling her original motives for working within the education sector, she explained a desire to positively impact young people.
“This was a Catholic school, and so they knew I used to be a passionate woman of religion,” Soydag said. “The school’s constructing is in the form of the cross. Every classroom had a cross and Bible verses on the partitions. This was a spot where I believed they accepted Jesus.”
Soydag identified that her social media channels were all in regards to the hope of the gospel, especially for ladies. She stated her beliefs in “God’s blueprint” for “nuclear marriage.”
“I’m not against anyone, I’m for God’s blueprint for the family and imagine children do best in a family unit,” she said. “I need to proceed to talk up because traditional Christian marriage on 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 a part of “inclusive” culture, she wouldn’t have been fired.
“I might have been celebrated and promoted,” she said. “For discussing and debating traditional Christian marriage and family, I used to be sacked, and that can not 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 at the moment are “barred” from schools within the UK.
“Every form of relationship and family have to be celebrated, but when you rejoice and promote the standard family on social media, you accomplish that liable to dismissal,” Williams said. “Gozen unashamedly loves Jesus and is a superb advocate for ladies and God’s great and exquisite plan for marriage.”
Gozen was doing a high level of labor in a troublesome area of London, supporting young women in a Catholic school and had received nothing but praise before someone complained in regards to the beliefs she expressed for debate on her own time, Williams said.
She said the court ruling served as “one other example” of a college having an appearance of a Christian ethos but in point of fact “panicking and capitulating to secular orthodoxy and the ‘offence’ of Christian marriage.”
“The judgment manipulates the facts and evidence to construct a conclusion to suit its ends,” she added. “The whole exercise becomes considered one of legal fiction, which we intend to overturn through the appeal system.”
