Since its inception, the CLC has involved itself in a number of cases in the UK.
2008 Blasphemy In 2008 the CLC represented Emily Mapfuwa, a Christian who began a prosecution of the
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in
Gateshead for exhibiting a statue by
Terence Koh of
Jesus with an
erection. In a
BBC Essex radio interview, Michael Phillips (a CLC solicitor who is also a member of the
Lawyers' Christian Fellowship) said that Mapfuwa had never visited the exhibition; she lives over away, in
Brentwood, Essex. The case was halted by the
Crown Prosecution Service.
Hybrid embryo research The CLC and Comment on Reproductive Ethics (CORE) were refused permission to apply for a
judicial review to overturn the
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's decision to allow laboratory testing of
human–animal hybrid embryos. At the
High Court in London, Justice
Linda Dobbs ruled that the application was without merit and ordered the CLC to pay costs which amounted to about £20,000.
Employment termination for homophobia Graham Cogman, a police constable from
Norfolk, was fired for sending emails to colleagues in which he quoted biblical passages condemning homosexuality and forwarded information about a group which offered to
"cure" homosexuals. Cogman launched a complaint at an employment tribunal, supported by the CLC, claiming harassment due to his religious beliefs. He lost his case.
2010 Employment termination for homophobia (McFarlane v Relate Avon Ltd) Gary McFarlane, a counselor for
Relate (a relationship support charity), was fired after raising a conscientious objection to assisting same-sex couples with sexual issues. Relate admitted
wrongful dismissal, conceding that McFarlane should have been given notice instead of being summarily dismissed for "gross misconduct". Complaints of
unfair dismissal and
discrimination on the grounds of religion were dismissed. An appeal of the ruling was dismissed by the High Court in April 2010, and an application to the
European Court of Human Rights was unsuccessful.
Employment discrimination for wearing a crucifix Shirley Chaplin, a nurse supported by the CLC, made an unsuccessful bid to sue the
Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust for discrimination because it had moved her to a desk job after she refused to remove a
cross necklace when asked to do so on health and safety grounds; hospital dress code prohibits front-line staff from wearing any type of necklace, in case patients try to grab it. The hospital had offered Chaplin a compromise of wearing her cross pinned inside a lapel or pocket. An employment tribunal ruled that they acted reasonably in April 2010, rejecting Chaplin's case. Chaplin tried unsuccessfully to obtain a ruling against the UK government at the European Court of Human Rights. The CLC supported Amachree in an unsuccessful legal claim for unfair dismissal, religious discrimination, and breach of contract.
2011: Foster care Eunice and Owen Johns, a Christian couple, applied to the
Derby City Council to become
foster parents. They withdrew their application after a social worker expressed concern when they said they could not tell a child that a homosexual lifestyle was acceptable. The two parties agreed to take the case to the High Court for clarification of the law. The court decided in favour of the city council, saying that laws protecting people from discrimination because of their sexual orientation "should take precedence" over the right not to be discriminated against on religious grounds.
2016: Suspension for harassment of Muslim colleague Victoria Wasteney, a senior
occupational therapist and head of forensic therapy at the John Howard Centre (a mental-health unit of the
East London NHS Foundation Trust), was suspended for nine months for "harassing and bullying" a junior Muslim colleague and received a written warning after an investigation. Wasteney had received an informal warning for arranging services by her church at the unit at which other staff felt pressured to sing and dance and donate to the church.
2018: Alfie Evans case The CLC became involved in the latter stages of the
Alfie Evans case. Their involvement was unsuccessful, and was criticised by the judge. A High Court judge expressed concern about the conduct of CLC consultant Pavel Stroilov during the case. Mr. Justice Hayden described Stroilov as a "fanatical and deluded young man" whose "malign hand" was "inconsistent with the real interests of the parents' case." The judge accused CLC activists of doing Evans' parents "far more harm than it does them good", and said that their submissions were "littered with vituperation and bile". Mary Holmes, former
solicitor for Evans' parents, accused the CLC of exploiting the case for their own benefit.
2019 Expulsion from university for homophobia Felix Ngole, a student social-care worker, was removed from a course at the University of Sheffield in 2016 after engaging in a Facebook debate where he said that homosexuality was a sin. His comments were deemed homophobic. The High Court upheld the university's decision in 2017, but the
Court of Appeal ruled two years later that "the mere expression of religious views about sin does not necessarily connote discrimination."
Dismissal from Gloucestershire School for homophobia Kristie Higgs, 47, was dismissed for gross misconduct by Farmor’s School in Fairford, Gloucestershire, in 2019 after sharing Facebook posts criticising plans to teach about LGBT+ relationships in primary schools. In 2024, Higgs won the right to appeal her dismissal.
2020 Employment termination for transphobia and Islamophobia The CLC represented teacher Joshua Sutcliffe, who was fired from two schools for
misgendering a
transgender boy and for comments made about Islam in a YouTube video. Sutcliffe, who blamed the loss of his jobs on the "LGBT+ mafia" and the "Islamic mafia", reached an undisclosed settlement with one of the schools.
Transgender children in school Christian parents Nigel and Sally Rowe took legal action after their son saw another boy wearing a dress and was "confused". The Rowes received £22,000 for legal costs from the UK's
Department for Education.
2021: Employment termination for homophobia Magistrate Richard Page was fired for objecting to an adoption application by a same-sex couple, and was also suspended from his role at the Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust. After an unsuccessful Court of Appeal challenge against his dismissal which was supported by the CLC, Page was told by Lord Justice Underhill that he had shown himself "incapable of honouring his undertaking" as an unbiased magistrate.
2022 Cross-wearing at work The CLC supported nurse Mary Onuoha, who was "victimised" for wearing a small cross on duty. She refused to remove the cross, citing the widespread wearing of jewellery and other religious apparel by other staff members. The Employment Tribunal ruled that she had been discriminated against and harassed, saying: "There was no proper explanation as to why those items were permitted but a cross-necklace was not".
Life-support withdrawal Archie Battersbee, a 12-year-old boy, was diagnosed as
brain-dead by the Royal London Hospital. His parents were assisted by the CLC in arguing unsuccessfully that his
life support treatment should continue.
2023: Dismissal for homophobia Bernard Randall (a chaplain at the independent
Trent College boarding school) objected to the school partnering with an LGBT+ charity, refused to engage in training activities involving the charity, and was dismissed in 2019 after being referred to an anti-terrorism programme because of a sermon in which he told students that it was all right to not accept "LGBT ideology". An employment-tribunal judge ruled that safeguarding concerns and a requirement to comply with standards regulations outweighed Randall's right to express his beliefs in a school environment.
2025: Trans women using women's changing rooms The CLC alongside
J. K. Rowling supported a group of eight nurses suing their employer,
Darlington Memorial Hospital, for allowing a trans woman to use women's changing facilities since 2019. == Other activities ==