A Fair Employment Tribunal has dismissed all claims brought by a former Belfast Film Festival employee who alleged she was discriminated against and constructively dismissed because of her gender critical beliefs. Sara O'Gorman, who also used the surname Morrison, brought proceedings against Belfast Film Festival Ltd under the Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998, claiming direct discrimination and harassment on the ground of political opinion, as well as constructive unfair dismissal. The unanimous ruling was issued on 17 July 2026 by Employment Judge Sturgeon and panel member Mr M McKeown.

O'Gorman worked as Inclusion/Audience Development Co-ordinator at Belfast Film Festival from 12 February 2020. The case centred on events following her attendance and speech at a Let Women Speak rally in Belfast on 16 April 2023, led by activist Kellie-Jay Keen. The rally drew a large counter-demonstration from LGBTQIA+ groups. O'Gorman's speech at the event was subsequently shared online, generating complaints from stakeholders including LGBTQ+ organisations that had professional relationships with the festival. She resigned on 26 November 2024.

The tribunal found that O'Gorman's gender critical beliefs constituted a political opinion for the purposes of FETO - a point agreed by both parties. However, it concluded that none of the thirteen acts of alleged discrimination or harassment were carried out because of her political opinion. The tribunal found that the respondent's actions - including initiating a fact-finding investigation, issuing public statements on social media, communicating with stakeholder organisations, and paying statutory sick pay during her absence - were driven by operational concerns, stakeholder relationship management, and contractual obligations rather than by O'Gorman's beliefs.

On the question of the investigation into her conduct, the tribunal found that multiple external organisations had raised concerns about O'Gorman's ability to fulfil the stakeholder-facing elements of her role following her participation in the rally. Her job description explicitly required her to maintain and build positive relationships with the festival's audience, participants and stakeholders. The tribunal also found that O'Gorman had not sought permission from her employer to speak at the event, as required under her contract of employment, a requirement she acknowledged under cross-examination.

Regarding a public statement issued by festival director Michele Devlin on X, formerly Twitter, the tribunal found that O'Gorman herself had accepted that some form of public statement was necessary and had contributed to the drafting of its wording. The tribunal noted she responded to a draft of the statement with the words "That's so good! Xx". The tribunal found the statement did not name O'Gorman, did not characterise her views as unacceptable, and did not prejudge the outcome of any review.

The tribunal rejected O'Gorman's claim that an email sent by board member Mark Cousins on 25 June 2023 - which raised concerns about her public conduct and suggested her name be removed from a project pending resolution of the matter - amounted to a call for her dismissal. It found the language used was explicitly temporary and focused on reputational and stakeholder concerns rather than her political opinion as such.

On the constructive dismissal claim, the tribunal found that none of the acts relied upon individually or cumulatively amounted to a breach of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence. The grievance process, which was handled with significant involvement from external HR consultants ThinkPeople, resulted in a rejection of O'Gorman's grievance in July 2024 and a rejection of her subsequent appeal in November 2024. The tribunal found that the claimant's dissatisfaction with those outcomes did not establish procedural unfairness or bias. All claims were dismissed in their entirety.