Irish teacher refuses to use student's gender-neutral pronoun, jailed

A teacher, who refused to use gender-neutral pronouns for a transgender student, was jailed for violating an order of the court in Ireland. The court forbidded him from going to the school where he works as he was suspended from there after refusing to call the transitioning students 'they', the Daily Mail reported.

Enoch Burke was suspended by Wilson’s Hospital School in Co Westmeath for refusing to call the pupil 'they'. Burke teaches German, history, politics and debate.

The row erupted when he refused to address a student changing gender with they/them/ their pronouns rather than he/him/his. This request was made by the students, their parents, and the school in May last year, local media reports said.

When the teacher was asked by the school's principal to use the pronoun 'they' to refer to the student, Burke said that it went against his Christian beliefs.

Despite the school board placed Enoch Burke on temporary paid administrative leave during the disciplinary process, he continued to go to the school.

'ORDER AGAINST CONSCIENCE'

Following this, the school then got a court injunction barring Burke from the school building. Burke violated the court order and said that he could not comply with the order as it was against his conscience.

"I love my school, with its motto Res Non Verba, actions not words, but I am here today because I said I would not call a boy a girl," Burke told the judge.

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He said he was wrongly suspended from his position and the process used to suspend him was procedurally flawed.

“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.It is insanity that I will be led from this courtroom to a place of incarceration, but I will not give up my Christian beliefs," he told the court.

“It is extraordinary and reprehensible that someone's religious beliefs on this matter could ever be taken as grounds for an allegation of misconduct," he said.

The case will be heard in court on Wednesday.