Enoch Burke failed to get a court order on Wednesday that would have reversed his release and return to school, leaving him in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin. The evangelical Christian calls himself a prisoner of conscience and has won the support of social conservatives and right-wing cultural commentators around the world since he was jailed on September 5. A small group of supporters shouted in protest on Wednesday after Supreme Court Justice Ms Eileen Roberts rejected Burke’s bid to overturn the school’s decision to suspend him with pay pending disciplinary proceedings. They applauded Burke as he was led away. The row began when Wilson’s Hospital, a Church of Ireland school in County Westmeath, instructed staff that a transgender student wanted to be referred to by a new name and the pronoun “they”, a change supported by the the student’s parents. Burke, from Castlebar, County Mayo, who teaches history, refused, citing his religious beliefs. The school placed Burke on paid administrative leave after she allegedly confronted the principal at a public event and questioned her in a “heated” manner, a claim Burke denies. After Burke continued attending the school, he received a court order banning him from campus. He continued to appear, resulting in his imprisonment for contempt of court. Burke rejected court requests to strike out his contempt — in effect to promise to obey the ban — and said he was being punished for his beliefs. “I’m here today because I said I wouldn’t call a boy a girl,” she told the court last week. “Being transgender is against my Christian beliefs. It’s against the scriptures, against the ethos of the Church of Ireland and my school.” The case has been widely reported in the US and elsewhere, with some reports incorrectly suggesting that Burke was jailed for not using gender-neutral pronouns. Liberal commentators have blamed the teacher for his predicament and derided those who see him as a free speech martyr. “His transformation into a symbol of freedom of expression is frankly hilarious,” wrote Fintan O’Toole in the Irish Times. “Genghis Khan would have been better for tolerance.” Burke holds degrees in theology, education and history and has been a teacher for 10 years. He is the author of a book, self-published in 2020, John Piper and Sam Albury’s Hedonism and Homosexuality: The Bible’s Truth. He accuses the two evangelical pastors of “turning the grace of God into disrespect.” Burke is from a prominent family. His parents, Martina and Sean Burke, homeschooled their 10 children. They have biblical names and excelled academically, winning scholarships, debate competitions and other awards. They became known for participating in student elections, organizing LGBTQ rights protests, and suing universities and employers. The Guardian has contacted the family for comment on the Enoch Burke case.
