Members of the Burke family have confronted the head of the North’s Education Authority outside a church in Co Antrim, accusing him of “promoting transgenderism” and “sodomy”.
A video posted on social media by Enoch Burke showed his brother Josiah and mother Martina following Mervyn Storey around the car park of Hebron Free Presbyterian Church in Ballymoney as he attempts to gain entry to the building.
Referring to the EA’s guidelines for supporting transgender pupils, they claim he is “enforcing transgenderism in Northern Ireland schools” and “threatening teachers”.
Mr Storey, a former DUP Assembly member and Stormont minister, says in the footage “please, thank you” and “can you move out of my way?”, and later asks them “can you stop?”.
The Burkes also claim to have been assaulted as they attempted to enter the building, which is rejected by church members.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said it was “aware of a video being circulated online and inquiries are being conducted in relation to the matter”
The Education Authority said “we have no comment”.
Enoch Burke, from Castlebar, Co Mayo, has been involved in a long-running legal battle over his dismissal from his teaching job at Wilson’s Hospital School in Co Westmeath following a public confrontation with its principal after he refused to call a child “they” rather than “he”.
He has argued that transgenderism is against his Christian religious beliefs and that requiring him to use such terminology was unconstitutional and contrary to the school’s Church of Ireland ethos. He spent more than 500 days in prison for repeatedly disobeying High Court orders not to attend the premises.
Last month he won an appeal over the composition of a disciplinary panel set up to hear his appeal against his dismissal.
Members of his family have also been involved in protests over gender identity issues at high-profile events and outside Irish courts.
In March, Martina Burke and her children Isaac and Ammi were removed by police from the Ireland Funds gala dinner in Washington after they interrupted proceedings in protest at Enoch’s imprisonment.
The first set of detailed guidelines for supporting transgender pupils in Northern Ireland were published by the Education Authority in 2019.
The advisory document states transgender people “have a gender identity which differs from that of their (assigned) birth sex” and includes advice on issues such as name and pronoun changes, uniforms and toilets and changing rooms.
Earlier this year, the UK supreme court ruled that the definition of a woman was defined by biological sex.
Following that judgment, the North’s Minister for Education, the DUP MLA Paul Givan, said its implications were being considered to ensure compliance “with the legal definition of sex”.