In Ireland a teacher named Enoch Burke has been sent to Mountjoy Prison. A lot of misinformation has already been spread about this case, namely that the reason Enoch Burke was imprisoned was that he misgendered one of his students. This is not in any way true, and the idea that it is true is dangerous and could cause hostility to transgender and non-binary people, who already have to deal with fear and suspicion from those who do not understand them. So I’m going to explain what it is that actually happened.
Just a quick note before I continue, I do not know whether the student identifies as transgender or as non-binary, but I will be using the term transgender because this is often used as an umbrella term that includes non-binary people.
At Wilson’s Hospital School, an email was sent to all of the teachers and staff requesting that they refer to a transgender student using the pronouns they/them, and refer to them by a new name that the student chose to reflect their gender identity. Enoch Burke refused to not only respect the student’s pronouns, but would not respect the student’s new name.
After Mr Burke’s refusal to respect the trans’s students name and pronouns, his behaviour became incredibly disruptive. The school had a mass and a dinner to mark the school’s 260th anniversary, and Mr Burke interrupted the service. After his interruption members of the congregation walked out of the school chapel. After the meal he approached the principal, Ms Niamh McShane, and asked her to withdraw the request to respect the student’s name and pronouns. After Ms McShane said she would speak to Mr Burke at another time and walked away, Mr Burke followed her, and questioned her loudly, to the point where people felt the need to stand between Mr Burke and Ms McShane. Now, if I was a student, or a teacher at this school, I would feel quite threatened and intimidated by Mr Burke’s actions, I would not feel safe to come back to class unless action was taken against him. In fact, I often didn’t feel safe in my old school, because there was very little action taken against aggressive or hostile teachers.
As a consequence of Mr Burke’s actions, he was placed on paid leave. He was not placed on paid leave because of the act of misgendering and dead naming (using a transgender person’s birth name if they do not wish it) the student, but rather because of the disruptive behaviour already described.
After he was placed on paid leave, he continued to show up at the school. So as things stood, he was asked to leave the school, with full pay, due to his disruptive behaviour, and he refused to comply. At this point, the school sought a court injunction ordering that he not be allowed enter the school, which they successfully obtained.
After this court injunction, Mr Burke continued to show up at the school. At this point he was arrested and sent to Mountjoy prison for refusal to comply with a court order. So the reason Mr Burke is in prison now is because of disruptive behaviour, resulting in him being suspended. He refused to respect the suspension, which resulted in the court order. Only for not following this court order was he put in prison.
Enoch Burke was incredibly rude and disrespectful to a student who only wished for their pronouns and their name to be respected. I’m alarmed to see more and more articles and videos, not just from Ireland, but from Britain and the United States, about how he was imprisoned for misgendering a student. This type of misinformation is incredibly dangerous, it leads to the idea that people should be fearful of transgender and non-binary individuals because if you say something they don’t like in front of them you will be thrown in prison. It also emboldens people who have transphobic attitudes, because it leads them to believe that by being openly hostile and aggressive to transgender people they are defending their right to free speech.
Enoch Burke is not a martyr for civil liberties or free speech. It’s a shame that so many people wish to create that false narrative around him.
Sources:
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/courtandcrime/arid-40951064.html
https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-ireland-teacher-idUSL1N30D1J7
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