Teacher Ordered to Spend Christmas in Jail for Refusing 'They/Them' Pronouns

An Irish court has just sentenced a Christian teacher to spend his third straight Christmas in prison — all because he refuses to call a biological male student "they."

The High Court on Wednesday ordered Enoch Burke, 34, to remain in Mountjoy Prison through the holiday season after he defied permanent injunctions prohibiting him from setting foot on the grounds of Wilson’s Hospital School.

Justice Brian Cregan ruled that Burke must stay locked up, declaring that previous fines, security guards and the seizure of his bank account all failed to stop the teacher’s daily protests.

Burke has now spent more than 500 days behind bars since 2022, when the Church of Ireland school demanded he refer to a transitioning male student as "they/them" and by a female name.

Burke refused, citing his evangelical Christian beliefs and biological reality.

Justice Cregan accused Burke and his family — mother Martina, brother Isaac and sister Ammi — of waging "the most deliberate, sustained and concerted attack on the authority of the civil courts and the rule of law in this country in recent times."

The judge described Burke as "a baleful and malign presence … an intruder, stalking the school."

Burke immediately objected to the language from the dock.

Courts typically release Burke during school holidays, only to re-imprison him when term resumes and he returns to the campus, insisting he still has a right to his job.

A receiver already controls his bank account to pay the school’s legal costs.

A final dismissal hearing remains pending.

Bottom line tonight: Ireland’s judiciary has decided that protecting one student’s pronouns outweighs a teacher’s freedom of speech, religion and conscience — even on Christmas Day.