Yolo County settles free speech suit with Moms For Liberty over trans athlete presentation

Jenavieve Hatch
·3 min read
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Yolo County has settled with parents’ rights group Moms for Liberty over an incident that took place at a Davis library last summer.

On Aug. 20 at the Mary L. Stephens Library branch, library staff abruptly ended a presentation, “Forum on Fair and Safe Sport for Girls,” in which members of Moms for Liberty, and other anti-trans activists, spoke about the issue of trans women playing on women’s sports teams.

In attendance was Yolo County Moms for Liberty chapter president Beth Bourne, and former collegiate athlete Sophia Lorey, who is now the outreach director at the conservative Christian advocacy group California Family Council.

During her presentation, Lorey referred to trans women athletes as “men.” Library staff intervened.

“We don’t want any transgender females being called male in sporting events with females,” a library official had said. “If that happens, it’s not following our code of conduct and we will ask the person who says it to leave immediately.”

When Lorey then referred to trans women athletes as “biological men,” the branch manager asked her to leave, and turned off the projector to end the presentation.

Yolo County Moms for Liberty chapter chair Beth Bourne stands outside a closed-door meeting at the Davis Joint Unified School District offices Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023, as board members met behind closed doors with police over a series of bomb threats to Davis schools. She shows books from the Davis Library she felt were inappropriate for children.
Yolo County Moms for Liberty chapter chair Beth Bourne stands outside a closed-door meeting at the Davis Joint Unified School District offices Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023, as board members met behind closed doors with police over a series of bomb threats to Davis schools. She shows books from the Davis Library she felt were inappropriate for children.

The Aug. 20 forum kicked off a series of events in the progressive county, culminating in several bomb threats to libraries and schools and a rally in support of LGBTQ people.

The conservative Christian group, Alliance Defending Freedom, and the nonpartisan Institute for Free Speech, filed a lawsuit in December on behalf of the Yolo County Moms for Liberty chapter and the California Family Council, alleging county library staff violated their First Amendment rights to free speech.

Yolo County staff “are not required to agree with plaintiffs’ views about protecting women’s sports,” the lawsuit read. “The First Amendment, however, requires that (they) allow plaintiffs to speak freely about the integrity of female athletics in library meeting rooms.”

Davis resident and parent, Nada Nakahara, left, stands in unity with others in support of gender-identity topics at the Yolo is for Everyone event Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, after recent bomb threats made at Davis-area schools and the city’s main library containing anti-LGBTQ language.
Davis resident and parent, Nada Nakahara, left, stands in unity with others in support of gender-identity topics at the Yolo is for Everyone event Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, after recent bomb threats made at Davis-area schools and the city’s main library containing anti-LGBTQ language.

County officials agreed to pay $70,000 in damages, as well as legal fees. They also changed their policies to indicate that staff “shall not interfere with presentations or other speech by individuals or groups that have reserved meeting rooms based on the content of such speech, and to instruct staff to “curtail any disruptive behavior” during such events. They also agreed to host another forum on the same topic, which they did April 13. The groups described the April forum as “successful” and “without incident” in a news release about the settlement.

“Shutting down discussions about biological differences between men and women is, sadly, a growing trend among activists seeking to erase women and harm children,” said Tyson Langhofer, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom. “While they should never have shut down the event, Yolo County library officials are right to change course and enact policies that align with the First Amendment.”

“I simply acknowledged that men are playing in women’s sports, making it harder for girls to achieve their dreams,” Lorey said Tuesday in response to the settlement. “Yet, I was interrupted and forbidden from continuing to share my personal experience as a collegiate soccer player at Vanguard University.

“I am grateful that Yolo County has now agreed to respect the right of all Americans to share their views in public spaces without fear of being silenced or censored.”