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Irish Teacher Makes Martyr of Himself Over Refusal To Recognise Trans Student's Chosen Identity [1]
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Date: 2022-09-07
Burke arriving at court Wednesday
A teacher in Ireland has been sent back to jail for contempt of court for continuing to refuse to stay away from the the school he taught at: despite an injunction ordering him to do so while the school conducts a disciplinary case against him. Enoch Burke continued to attend the school and attempt to teach and was jailed on Monday for breaching the order. On Wednesday he refused to obey the order at a further hearing. He was remanded to Mountjoy Prison in Dublin for a week pending another hearing or earlier if he purges his contempt by agreeing to stay away.
Burke is attempting to make this case one of him being jailed for refusing to recognise a trans student’s new identity because of his religion. The facts are very different.
Mr Burke faced legal proceedings after a disciplinary process was launched against him by Wilson's Hospital school in County Westmeath. It came after he confronted his then-principal in public at a school event in June - Mr Burke objected to addressing a student who is transitioning gender with a new name and using the "they" pronoun. Mr Burke was suspended with pay pending the outcome of the process, but q1 the court was told he turned up at the school for his timetabled hours
The island has a history of religiously organised anti-LBGT+ court actions. The case of the “gay wedding cake” in Lee vs Ashers Bakeries has received wide publicity. It established the right for a company to refuse to inscribe a message supporting gay marriage on a cake because of the owners’ religious objections. This anti-gay movement is mainly among the extremist Protestants in Northern Ireland which that case concerned. Burke’s actions are taking place in the Republic under a different juresdiction but could still end up in the European Court of Human Rights.
Burke’s Human Rights case would center on whether, to comply with his religious beliefs, he could refuse his employer’s instruction to address a trans student by their chosen name and pronoun. Let me be clear, his imprisonment has nothing to do with that, despite him trying to make it. He has been suspended on full pay pending the outcome of his disciplinary proceedings. In the meantime he was instructed not to go into the school, in effect “tresspassed”. Despite the instruction he attempted to teach and the school took out an injunction (restraining order) in which the court ordered him not to go. He again attempted to enter and was arrested for breaching the court order and will stay in jail until he agrees not to, the only way to purge his contempt of court.
The next stage will be the disciplinary hearing at the school. Now I have been on such panels in London and I can see there is a good case for instant dismissal. At my primary school we had strict policies of inclusion and mutual respect. I don’t know if Wilson's Hospital school in County Westmeath has such policies however there are general principles which should apply. My decision would be based on “the principal had serious concerns about how Mr Burke may act in the school, as well as concerns for the student involved and the entire student body.” In addition, failure to address the trans student by their chosen name and pronoun would cause psychological harm. Given that, I would have no hesitation in voting for dismissal. There are no doubt appeals processes but I presume his refusal to appropriately address all the students in the school would mean he would no longer be allowed to teach there.
Before I started writing this, I knew nothing about Burke but from the report had a suspicion that he was Protestant. They tend to be the most reactionary group in Eire, supporting the unsuccessful anti-abortion movement. My other clue was his forename. He is of an age when he would have been named after a NI Unionist MP who had been thrown out of the Conservatives for racism. He appears to be quite the Calvinist fervert writing books including co-authoring “The Hedonism and Homosexuality of John Piper and Sam Allberry: The Truth of Scripture”
At Wednesday’s court hearing Burke stated:
Transgenderism, he said, was contrary to scripture, and that in this instance he would “only obey God”, and would “not obey man”; agreeing to comply with his suspension would be akin to agreeing with transgenderism. Mr Burke commended himself for his stance regarding the order, was critical of the courts regarding its treatment of him, and quoted the poet Robert Frost. He also said that the disciplinary procedures against him by the school are flawed and described any allegation of gross misconduct against him as “ludicrous”. He said he had voiced his opposition to the school’s direction; that the student at the centre of the request was not in any of his classes, nor had he had any direct dealings with that particular student.
His refusal to agree to the conditions for his release clearly make his continued jailing appropriate to stop a disturbance of the peace. His intentions to become a martyr including by representing himself point to this becoming an anti-trans cause celebre.
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