A Christian teacher in Ireland who refused to accept the preferred pronouns of a transgender pupil was sentenced to jail time for disobeying a court order that forbade him from entering the school’s grounds.
Enoch Burke was detained on Monday morning for contempt of court, according to Newsweek. He was then taken to Mountjoy prison. In Multyfarnham, County Westmeath, Burke teaches German, history, and politics at Wilson’s Hospital School.
Burke, an evangelical Christian, said after the decision, “It is insane that I will be escorted from this courthouse to a place of jail, but I will not give up my Christian views.”
According to Newsweek, Burke entered the campus despite being suspended and put on administrative leave in June for openly contesting a transgender student’s preferred pronouns of “they/them.”
The school allegedly then asked Burke to respect the student’s gender identity, but he retaliated by claiming that doing so violated both his constitutional rights and the beliefs of the Church of Ireland. The school is a diocesan school for the Church of Ireland.
Burke was put on administrative leave by the end of August while the school undertook a disciplinary investigation. Newsweek was informed by the school that the teacher kept showing up on school property.
Burke stated in court on Monday that he would be returning to school and would be unable to abide by the ruling. He is being remanded in custody pending his agreement to abide by Justice Michael Quinn’s ruling, which prohibits him from entering a classroom.
Burke claims that the school cannot expel him since there is only one reason for expulsion—gross misconduct, as reported by Newsweek. He claims that upholding his beliefs on gender is not seriously wrong.
Such occurrences have become widespread as instructors and schools have evolved into one of the main arenas for the culture wars in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
A Massachusetts teacher was fired in December after sharing videos on TikTok that showed she disagreed with critical race theory.
After reportedly using critical race theory in the classroom by giving the young adult book “Dear Martin,” which is about a Black high school boy who experiences police violence while attending a largely white high school, a high school teacher in Missouri lost her job in April.
More than 160 instructors in the United States lost their jobs as a result of the raging political debate surrounding the issues, according to a Washington Post investigation from June.
