Christian Concern’s financial year ends on 30 June.
Chief Executive Andrea Williams writes about 12 public legal victories that we have seen in the last 12 months.
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This year, Christian Concern and the Christian Legal Centre have seen major legal wins and a new willingness among senior politicians to support our causes.
Years of determination to speak of Jesus Christ in public life, to uphold and protect life, family and freedom, have led to important breakthroughs in our national life.
Our work goes well beyond simply supporting people with court proceedings. And in many cases we are able to secure victories well before they are made public.
But below, I’m sharing 12 public legal wins that God has accomplished through our ministry in the last 12 months.
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1. The Darlington Nurses
We’ve been backing the Darlington Nurses all the way – and in October we were with them inside and outside court at their employment tribunal.
We exposed how their hospital trust had mistreated them by brushing aside their concerns about the inappropriate behaviour of a man (who identifies as a woman) using their female-only changing room.
Then in January, the employment tribunal ruled decisively in their favour.
Not only did they win their case, but we were able to set a precedent for workplaces around the country, making clear that these workplaces should not capitulate to trans ideology at the expense of women.
Our work supporting the nurses also led to numerous opportunities for us to press forward and make sure created reality is upheld throughout the country.
We had multiple meetings with senior politicians like Kemi Badenoch and Claire Coutinho, praise from other MPs at a Westminster Hall debate, and even invitations to speak and meet with politicians at Capitol Hill in Washington DC.
2. Jennifer Melle
Our hard work creating change in the legal, media and parliamentary world with the Darlington Nurses case also played out in restoring nurse Jennifer Melle’s career.
She was suspended, investigated and punished for referring to a male paedophile patient as ‘mister’. When he overheard her, he racially abused her, but the hospital sided with him, suspending her and putting her career at risk.
Thanks to our legal support and the backing we secured from a cross-party group of MPs, Epsom and St Helier University Hospital eventually did the right thing – restoring her to her job as a nurse and settling her case.
But there are still elements of all these nurses’ cases to resolve: the work is not over yet. Many have ongoing NMC investigations that could threaten their careers.
And we need to make sure laws and policies are changed so no one else has to go through what these nurses have faced.
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3. Victoria Culf
Our long support of artist Victoria Culf paid off as we helped her secure a settlement with Watford Borough Council.
Three years ago, the council removed her from her own exhibition, and reported her to the police, for saying in an amicable conversation that “gender transition” is harmful to children.
But as she was vindicated, the council released a statement saying said it holds Victoria “in high regard as a community artist” and that it “now wishes to make it clear that it has no animosity towards Mrs Culf and would work with her in the future as a community artist.”
4. Felix Ngole
Another groundbreaking win this year was helping Felix Ngole win his case at the Employment Appeal Tribunal, after years of mistreatment for his Christian beliefs.
Touchstone Support Leeds withdrew its job offer to Felix after finding out about his biblical beliefs highlighted in his previous precedent-setting free speech win. The Court of Appeal had previously backed him after he was thrown off his social work course for expressing his biblical views on marriage.
In this new case, he was told that unless he committed to “promoting and embracing” LGBT ideology, he would not be employed.
With the support of the Christian Legal Centre, we took his case to the Employment Appeal Tribunal – and won.
The judge ruled that Felix losing his job because of his public Christian beliefs – and his previous Court of Appeal win – would be discrimination in a manner that is “not capable of justification.”
With our ongoing support, Felix has decided to appeal parts of this ruling to the Court of Appeal to further entrench Christian freedoms in our laws.
5. Aaron Edwards
We also continued to help Aaron Edwards’ ongoing case challenging his dismissal from a Bible college for tweets defending Biblical sexuality.
Building on last years’ victory for Kristie Higgs, we successfully argued for more grounds of appeal to be allowed in his case – meaning that his lawyers will be able to argue his case from more angles than were previously allowed.
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6. Matthew Grech
After years of delay, Matthew Grech also won his case having been prosecuted for ‘advertising conversion practices’ in Malta.
He had been through years of stretched out, often-delayed court hearings after accusations for sharing his ex-gay testimony and saying that people should be free to access legitimate talking therapy.
The Christian Legal Centre provided support to Matthew’s Maltese legal team.
But we continue to face the prospect of the Maltese ban being spread to other countries, including the United Kingdom.
And his win is still subject to appeal, meaning we must be prepared to support him once again if his case is resurrected.
7. Luke Salmons
One of our most recent high-profile cases saw the vindication of Christian PCSO Luke Salmons after he was suspended from his role and potentially barred from service in the police force for questioning Islam during mandatory training.
The media coverage on his case has demonstrated the special treatment Islam is often afforded and our petition in support of Luke was signed by around 20,000 people in its first week.
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8. John Steele
There are increasing cases, like Luke Salmons’, where police have prioritised Islam over Christianity.
One of these was the case of street preacher John Steele.
After being arrested and prosecuted for asking about the Qur’an’s teaching on domestic violence, our client street preacher John Steele was eventually vindicated when the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the charges against him.
9. David Skinner
We also fought for the vindication of David Skinner, a veteran pro-life campaigner, who had been convicted for sending an email with graphic images opposing abortion and censorship zones around clinics in Bournemouth.
With our legal support, a High Court judge overturned his conviction and protected his rights to freedom of expression and religion.
10. Kingsborough Centre
The Kingsborough Centre faced opposition as their gospel-sharing in Uxbridge town centre was banned without warning.
We protected vital street outreach ministries and secured justice for them by overturning this ban.
Pastor Tunde Balogun, featured in the video above, has died since this victory. But the victory makes it clear that it can never be ‘anti-social’ to share the hope of the gospel and reaching the community with material, emotional and spiritual support.
11. Shaun O’Sullivan
To protect street ministry, and especially Christians who are sharing the gospel in public, we ensured that street preacher Shaun O’Sullivan was cleared by a jury after he was accused of hate speech for saying “We love the Jews”.
His case gained significant media attention, encouraging Christians to continue standing up for Christ.
12. Robert Barnor
We helped Robert Barnor’s family successfully overturn a hospital’s claim that stopping dialysis was merely a clinical decision.
Without this win, hospitals would have been able to bypass proper legal procedures in these end-of-life cases.
Tragically, Robert died before the legal judgment was made but the decision will protect critically-ill patients from dying prematurely in the years to come.
This is only the tip of the iceberg
Even this long list of our remarkable and hard-fought for wins doesn’t tell the whole picture of the progress we’ve made this year.
These public wins are only the tip of the iceberg, and there have been many more cases fought and victories won behind the scenes.
This work only continues and increases. Despite these substantial wins there is work still a lot of work to do.
Our case supporting Christian schools, teachers and parents oppose the government’s unfair and unjustified tax raid on schools was unsuccessful at the Court of Appeal but is set to be heard at the Supreme Court later this year.
Several of our street ministry cases – including the Bread of Life Church, Simon Pearson and Steve Maile – are still ongoing, and we remain dedicated to supporting these bold Christians every step of the way.
Standing is winning
We often say that ‘standing is winning’.
Standing through the opposition, standing despite the defeats, is what set the stage for this year of immense victories.
If we hadn’t stood faithfully and persevered when the going was tough, and when victory seemed impossible, we would not be facing this remarkable shift in our legal cases, culture, and political situation.
We stood alone, we stood when everyone else had given up hope, and we stood by God’s grace and in his strength.
The foundation for these victories was laid down, case by case, campaign by campaign, years – and even decades – ago.
And we are seeing the fruits of this now, after decades of hard and often thankless work.
We will not give up on securing justice for Christians here in the UK and protecting and establishing vital freedoms for the next generation.
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Help us continue building on these wins and ramping up our efforts to protect freedom, justice and truth for Christians here in the UK.