Liberal victories need defending

A HIGH Court order for the arrest of secondary teacher Enoch Burke for alleged failure to comply with a temporary injunction preventing him from attending or teaching at the school where he works arises, according to statements in court, in the context of a different matter entirely – the transgender debate.

This alleged contempt will, quite rightly, be decided by the courts, having heard all the relevant evidence. But outside the precincts of the Four Courts there is a growing tempest, a determined campaign to push back liberal successes in the great culture wars that have been raging since the end of the Second World War.

In the US the Supreme Court reversal of the

1973 Roe versus Wade decision means that abortion rights, which were taken for granted for almost 50 years, are now limited to the extent that they are allowed by individual states. The overturning of Roe v Wade came at the end of a long campaign by a coalition of right-wing conservatives and mainly Christian traditionalists. Those groups never gave up the fight.

And it’s happening here too. All liberal successes, including abortion, gender and transgender identification rights, were hard won. What the US teaches us is that maintaining those rights is every bit as hard. As I’ve said before, the problem with liberals is that they think victory is permanent.

In the proceedings involving Enoch Burke, it’s claimed that he objected to referring to a student with the pronoun ‘they’. The temporary injunction granted to Wilson’s Hospital School in Co. Westmeath, which has now led to the order for Mr Burke’s arrest, was ex parte, so the court and the rest of us have not yet heard the teacher’s side of the story.

Whatever that is, there is little doubt but that the right of us all to be addressed in the manner of our choosing is accepted by most people. However – and without wishing to comment on this particular case – it is clearly not accepted by all.