An Irish teacher at the center of a dispute over transgenderism and pronouns has been jailed for the third time after he violated a court order to keep him away from the school where he used to teach.
Enoch Burke, a history and German teacher, was suspended from Wilson’s Hospital School in August 2022, when he refused, as CBN News previously reported, to call a student who was transitioning from male to identifying as female by “they” rather than “he” pronouns.
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Calling individuals by pronouns that do not correlate with their biological sex violates Burke’s convictions. In 2022, he told Irish High Court Judge Michael Quinn, who presided over his case, “Transgenderism is against my Christian belief. It is contrary to the Scriptures, contrary to the ethos of the Church of Ireland, and of my school.”
In the days after he was placed on paid administrative leave, Burke reportedly returned to the school grounds in Westmeath, from which he had been prohibited. As a result, he was arrested and placed behind bars at Mountjoy Prison, a men’s jail in Dublin.
Burke was released from his first stint in jail in December 2022. He was then formally fired from Wilson’s Hospital School in January 2023 and jailed once again in September of that year for breaching a court order keeping him from the school’s campus, according to a timeline published by Newsweek.
In June, an Irish High Court judge ordered Burke’s release from jail, as schools were on break for the summer. However, when classes resumed in August, the ousted teacher returned once again to campus.
BREAKING: Teacher Enoch Burke arrested at Wilson’s Hospital School after refusing to endorse and affirm transgender ideology.
— Enoch Burke (@EnochBurke) September 2, 2024
Judge Barry O’Donnell, who made almost €400,000 from 2016-2018 representing TUSLA as a barrister, ordered his arrest.
TUSLA is the Irish State ‘Child… pic.twitter.com/Ni8xLSRS7a
Burke was arrested yet again Monday for loitering on the school’s grounds.
He told Sky News at the time, “I teach everyone who’s in front of me. I teach every single student. But when I am commanded, when I’m told that I can’t have my religious belief anymore, when I’m told I have to confess belief in transgenderism, instead of my simple belief, which is male and female, that’s just a breach simply of my rights.”
The embattled educator posted footage of his arrest to his X account, which is currently being maintained by his brother, Josiah.
“I’m not going to turn my back on my students,” Burke is heard saying in the video. “I have a right to my job. I have a right to work here. I have a right to be here and not to tell students they need to take puberty blockers.”
The judge who ruled Burke should be returned to Mountjoy Prison reportedly told the ex-teacher he could be released from jail if he promised to abide by a court order banning him from the school’s premises. Burke, however, purportedly failed to give a definitive answer.
As the case currently stands, his status will be reviewed again on Oct. 11. Until then, he’ll remain jailed.
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