Enoch Burke turns up to school again despite sacking - read OP before posting

describing them as mentally ill is not offensive?

An impartial assessment of this week's judgement from a legal expert here:

Unsurprisingly, several comments under the video ignore the contents and insist that it was a ruling about "transgenderism" and religious beliefs. The solicitor sums it up in one of his responses: "People are too entrenched with their ideology and their fears to actually read the decision and understand what happened and the facts of the case. Happens all the time, unfortunately."

They are allowed to differ with regards to opinion, but not fact.

Case in point: ...that Burke had a reasonable case as regards his religious beliefs,

Fact - he didn't, as religious beliefs and practices are not catered for in the workplace. This was confirmed categorically and finally last Tuesday.

Case in point 2: that they wish to reassign their gender...

Not relevant - student was not transitioning gender, student was going non-binary (which just involved names and pronouns)

Really depends on the individual, what said individual wants to do, what you see to be a "tender age". In this case, we're talking someone who's at least 13/14 (hardly "tender") requesting new pronouns (hardly traumatic).

Now if it was a 9/10 year old wanting to undergo surgery, I'd be in agreement with you, but I'd still be in favour of educating the kid neutrally so that when comes - be it 15 or 18 or 21 or whatever - they can make an informed decision.

I have no time for the Burkes although I think they are entitled to their views however mad they are.

I have had trouble with the they/them being used for a singular person because that's not what I was taught in school many years ago. However I have been googling and have found this -

'The singular “they” is a generic third-person singular pronoun in English. Use of the singular “they” is endorsed as part of APA Style because it is inclusive of all people and helps writers avoid making assumptions about gender'.

And

'Writers should use the singular “they” in two main cases: (a) when referring to a generic person whose gender is unknown or irrelevant to the context and (b) when referring to a specific, known person who uses “they” as their pronoun.'

I think i'm getting it now.

What I don’t understand about Burke is the hill he’s chosen to die on. By all accounts he seemed like a good teacher who enjoyed his job. He didn’t even teach the child in question, and while he claims he would have contact with the child because it’s a small school and he’d have to substitute a class every now and again and couldn’t bring himself to call out a name on a roll because it was in contrast with his belief, well Michael Collins and the boys had deeply held beliefs but still crossed their fingers and took the oath of allegiance to the King because they realised there was a bigger picture at play. Why Burke could not to this I do not know, throw away your livelihood and good reputation, be sent to prison, rake up over 30k in fines over the sake of a confused child. Even if it is his overbearing and controlling mother calling all the shots and he’s just a victim of his own family, he could of just not told his mother about the child in question and she’d been none the wiser from Castlebar.

Even with the roll issue, he could have sent a piece of paper around the class and got everyone to write their names on it and just fill a tick or an x for everyone after, wouldn’t even have to say the name. It’s called boxing clever Enoch!

That's a really silly and pointless comment - have you watched his video? I have no time for him and his messing, but his teaching style came over as calm, relaxed, informative and helpful. What a waste.

That word describes my ex perfectly! I’d be tempted to swap the o for a u and it would be even better. 😂

You are the third person to try and twist what I wrote to suit your agenda. It should be abundantly clear in the context of what I wrote:

"There are a wide variety of views in Irish society on the related matters. As I've stated a few times, personally happy to acknowledge and accept those who choose with the wisdom of maturity that they wish to reassign their gender. As a parent I would have the view that such decisions are not to be encouraged at tender ages.

Citizens are allowed to differ you know. That is how society works."

that I am referring to the fact that posters here and citizens in society in general have a variety of views on such matters and are entitled to express them. I never referred at all to ignoring laws or any other spin that you or others keep returning to. I'm quite sure you agree that other people have varied views and that their views are as valid as yours and others? If not, well that would be very telling.

Do you mean the religious history, that told us that god created woman from a man's rib! Is that the bulls..sorry history, that you are talking about?

I'm not big on social media and there was nothing on the lunch time news. Maybe somebody in the know might be on to let us know. He could do with some oxtail soup in a flask to keep his strength up.

Lol, that's my photoshop! 😁 I posted it here yesterday. (https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120331374/#Comment_120331374)

I assume you didn't just copy it from this thread to post it back here, so where did you see it? Just curious! 😊