Was it discriminatory for a theatre to dismiss a Christian actress from a lesbian role after online posts about her belief that homosexuality was sinful became public?
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) said no.
The actress was claiming belief or religious discrimination, harassment, and breach of contract.
The EAT concluded that whilst her beliefs did scrape the threshold of being protected her other claims did not.
The claimant was not dismissed because of her beliefs but because of the adverse publicity from the social media post had on the cast, audience, reputation of the producers and the overall production.
The EAT also concluded there was no breach of contract as the claimant had stated she would not have performed the role once she had read the script, and she therefore suffered no loss.
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