Religious Liberty, Gender Identity and Hierarchy of Rights from Strasbourg: A UK Perspective

This article challenges the hierarchy of rights theory, namely that rights connected with sexual orientation and gender identity are in practice given priority by the courts over religious freedom. It outlines the thesis, and then examines how it operates in the specific setting of the UK juridical system, asking whether the focus on a particular kind of litigation (equality claims in education, employment and the commercial contexts) has obscured the way in which the legal framework as a whole operates in relation to religious freedom. It explores the twin protection of Article 9 and the Common Law Right to Freedom of Religion and Conscience, using recent family case law on transgender issues within conservative faith communities as an illustrative example.