A teacher who refused to use a transgender student’s preferred pronouns has been jailed for a third time in Ireland for breaking a court order to stay away from the school.
Enoch Burke turned up at the Wilson’s Hospital School in Co Westmeath every school day since Aug 22, which the court heard was “disruptive” for both staff and pupils.
The evangelical Christian has already spent more than 400 days in jail over two separate stints for contempt, and been fined, after repeatedly breaching the injunction.
After the judge ordered he be returned to Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, Burke told him he would “have to answer to God”.
“This court is simply denying me my religious beliefs, and my right to my religious beliefs,” Burke said.
“I am a Christian. I have Christian beliefs. My belief is male and female, God made them male and female.”
He also claimed teachers were being “commanded to force transgenderism on students”.
Video footage shot by supporters of Burke and shared on social media showed him being arrested by Irish police at the school. In the footage, members of his family tell the officers that Burke has “broken no laws”.