A teacher who refused to address a transgender pupil with gender-neutral pronouns was imprisoned for contempt of court.
Enoch Burke was detained yesterday morning, September 5, for violating a court order not to work at or be physically present at his Westmeath school.
He refused to refer to a transitioning student as “they” rather than “he,” as requested by the student and their parents in May and permitted by the Church of Ireland school, which is where the conflict started.
Enoch Burke was sentenced by Judge Michael Quinn to Mountjoy Prison until he complies with a prohibition on attending or attempting to instruct any classes at Wilson’s Hospital School in Co. Westmeath.
He had been fired from his job as a history and German instructor at the institution.
The order was granted after Mr. Burke was found to be in violation of the terms of his paid suspension and an ex-parte interim injunction ordering him to remain away from the school, according to the school’s attorneys.
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The judge ruled that Mr. Burke must stay behind bars until he absolves himself of his contempt and consents to abide by the injunction obtained by the school last week.
“It is insane that I will be escorted from this courtroom to a place of jail, but I will not give up my Christian beliefs,” Mr. Burke stated following Judge Michael Quinn’s decision.
The judge made the order after Mr Burke told the court that he could not comply with the order, and that he intended to return to the school.
Mr Burke said that his suspension arose over his objection to the school’s direction to staff last May to call “a boy,” as being “a girl” at the school.
Burke said that such a direction was “contrary to scripture” and was against the “ethos of my school and the Church of Ireland”, and something he could never agree to as he does not agree with transgenderism.
He said that agreeing to comply with the court order amounted to a breach of his own morals, ethos and religious views.
He said he “didn’t want to go to prison” and respected the law. However, complying with the orders would be “a contempt” of his own deeply held Christian beliefs which, he added, are “very dear to me”.
Mr Burke was arrested on Monday morning, September 5, at the school by the Gardai (police) before being conveyed to the Four Courts in Dublin.
The school. located in Multyfarnham Co-Westmeath, is the Church of Ireland’s Diocesan School for Meath and Kildare.
