education

Teacher in Ireland imprisoned for refusing to use ‘gender-neutral’ pronouns

Published

5 months ago

September 6, 2022

An Irish teacher’s fight against the woke masses has landed him in jail. Enoch Burke allegedly was initially suspended on full pay from the Wilson’s Hospital School temporarily, after refusing a request from the principal to address a transgender student by “they” instead of “he,” according to Irish outlet Independent.ie.

Burke is an evangelical Christian who teaches at Wilson’s Hospital School, a high school that is run by the Church of Ireland. It is co-ed and caters to boarding and day students.

Burke continued to show up to school in order to teach, despite his suspension. As a result, the boarding school got an interlocutory injunction restraining order against him, barring him from coming in the building.

Still, Burke showed up every day to work. Then, “the school’s board of management filed a further application, and on Friday, Justice Miriam O’Regan ordered Burke to be arrested and brought into court” reports National Review.

In court, Burke continued to insist on showing up to school teach, saying, “I love my school. I am here today because I would not call a boy a girl,” the outlet reported.

Not going to work and teaching “is not something I will do. It is in violation of my conscience,” Burke added, claiming his suspension was invalid and that he would’ve had to “commit an act of gross misconduct” for it to be justified, according to the outlet.

“It is reprehensible that anyone’s religious beliefs could be taken as a ground for misconduct or gross misconduct,” Burke said. “Were I to obey the order of the board of management and the order of the court, I would have to accept that sticking by my belief in male and female is wrong.”

“It is not something I will do. It is in violation of my conscience,” he added, saying, “Were I to go into the school and bow to something I know to be manifestly wrong, it would be a shame and a disgrace on my part.”

Justice Michael Quinn ordered Burke be committed to Mountjoy Prison and remain there indefinitely “until he purges his contempt or until further order of this court.”

Burke refused to comply with the court’s order after the judge’s decision, saying, “I cannot purge my contempt by holding my Christian beliefs in contempt.”

education

Hispanic Democrats ban term ‘Latinx’ used ‘to appease white rich progressives’

Published

6 days ago

February 2, 2023

Sara Carter Staff

Lawmakers in Connecticut which are both Hispanic and Democrats, have proposed a new state law to ban the term “Latinx” from all government documents. The term is deemed offensive by the lawmakers who want to end the practice.

“I’m of Puerto Rican descent and I find it offensive,” Democratic state representative Geraldo Reyes told the Associated Press.

“The Spanish language, which is centuries old, defaults to Latino for everybody,” Reyes added. “It’s all-inclusive. They didn’t need to create a word, it already exists.”

Reyes is the bill’s chief sponsor, and was joined by four other Hispanic Democrats who are also members of then Black and Puerto Rican Caucus in the Connecticut Legislature.

The Connecticut lawmakers are not alone in their sentiment. In 2021, Democratic Representative Ruben Gallego of Arizona tweeted “When Latino politicos use the term it is largely to appease white rich progressives who think that is the term we use.” Gallego added that his office was not allowed to use the term in any official communications.

To be clear my office is not allowed to use “Latinx” in official communications.
When Latino politicos use the term it is largely to appease white rich progressives who think that is the term we use. It is a vicious circle of confirmation bias. https://t.co/kMty6q7UQn

— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) December 6, 2021

National Review reports:

The same year, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the oldest community organization in the United States, declared it would no longer use Latinx. The term has also been rejected by Real Academia Española, a governing body that oversees the Spanish language.

While the term has been enthusiastically adopted by progressive academics and far-left activists, polling reveals it has not gained traction within the broader Hispanic population.

“The word Latino is incredibly exclusionary, both for women and for non-gender conforming people,” Maia Gil’adi, a professor at Boston University, told the AP. “And the term Latinx is really useful because of the way it challenges those conceptions.”