A Christian counselor in England is appearing before an employment tribunal this week, claiming she was wrongfully dismissed by a school over her social media posts on marriage.
The counselor, 37-year-old Gozen Soydag, who worked as a pastoral manager, says her beliefs were deemed “incompatible” with the ethos and mission at St. Anne’s Catholic High School for Girls in North London, prompting her dismissal in February 2023.
Soydag, a social media influencer with nearly 40,000 followers across various Instagram accounts, alleges she was terminated after complaints arose about content on her profiles, according to the group Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting her employment tribunal appeal that opened on Tuesday.
Soydag has accused the school of discrimination, harassment and breaches of human rights under the Equality Act 2010.
Soydag’s Instagram account, @wifeinthewaiting, promotes the sanctity of marriage and the traditional nuclear family, sharing posts that encourage Christian women to align with biblical teachings.
In one such post, she quoted the New Testament Epistle to the Ephesians, advocating for wives to “submit to your husbands as to the Lord.” Another post shared a video featuring a Muslim woman discussing her happiness in submitting to her husband — a video that, according to Soydag, sparked significant concern among school officials.