A judge in Ireland sent evangelical Christian teacher Enoch Burke to jail for the third time because he refused to comply with a court order that prevents him from trespassing at Wilson’s Hospital School, where he has protested gender ideology policies, the Irish Examiner reported.
Justice Michael Quinn ruled that Burke should be imprisoned again for breaching the terms of a previous injunction that Burke not be allowed near the school. Quinn said the injunction has never been repealed.
The judge said "conclusive evidence had been put before the court," demonstrating that Burke had been in the school’s vicinity on several occasions since Aug. 22. Quinn assessed this to be contempt for his ruling and sent Burke to Mountjoy Prison and adjourned proceedings until Oct. 11.
Quinn said Burke can get out of jail if he swears to not return to the school. The judge said he based his decision on testimony from the school’s acting principal, John Galligan, and its board of management chairman, who both said Burke’s presence near the school was a disruption.
Burke appeared before the court Monday evening after being arrested in front of the school earlier that day. The teacher Mr Burke was brought to the court on Monday evening following his arrest at the school's campus that afternoon. Burke, who came to court with members of his family, said he was being punished because he refuses to condone "the hellish ideology of transgenderism"
Burke was first suspended from his school for protesting a gender ideology session and asking the principal why students were being allowed to choose their pronouns. Burke acknowledged Monday that he expected to be sent back to jail even though he was being denied his right to exercise his religious convictions when he refused to call a student “they,” instead of a pronoun reflecting his or her biological sex.
The teacher said he understands that he is being persecuted for opposing gender ideology and “transgenderism” and that his civil rights had been “trampled into the ground.” but that “the truth will rise up again.”
He claimed that the truth about the case, namely that the litigation is all about his opposition to "transgenderism", was being "trampled into the ground" but added "that the truth will rise up again." When he was told that he would have to return to prison, the teacher said he would "have to answer to God."
