Drag Queens Yes, Real Women No at California Library

In California in February, the Yolo County chapter of a parental-rights advocacy group called “Moms for Liberty” reserved a room at Yolo County’s Mary L. Stevens – Davis Branch Library. According to the “Alliance Defending Freedom,” (ADF) the world’s largest legal organization advancing the God-given right to live and speak the truth, the group had planned to host a discussion about children’s books published by the company Brave Books, which promotes traditional family values.

However, two libraries were concerned over the organization and its members, including Moms for Liberty-Yolo County Chair Beth Bourne who was being accused of “transphobia” by other parents.

Another library employee contacted a local LGBT group where Bourne was labeled a “vocal anti-trans member of the community.” The library employee, in a counter- measure, had wanted to schedule a competing drag queen story hour the same time as the Moms for Liberty event.

Another librarian took what ADF calls “multiple steps to undermine the event in the days leading up to it” which included sending an email to staff that labeled Moms for Liberty as “anti-LGBTQIA, anti-woke, (and) anti-critical race theory.”

Only 25 people attended the Moms for Liberty event, including three protesters. So it wasn’t a big deal and it went off without disruption.

Moms for Liberty continued to host a series of events at the library over the next five months including a screening of a movie detailing the harmful and irreversible consequences of “gender transitions.” During the event, a protester stood in front of the room and held up signs. Other protesters were outside making disruptive noises that made the film hard to hear.

At another event that discussed how certain books that are at schools and libraries are inappropriate, about 15 protesters spoke out of turn, disrupted the event and prevented it from going on as planned. The library didn’t remove any of the protestors, stop them from interrupting the event, or discipline them.

As Moms for Liberty continued to hold events at the library, the protesters continued to show up and the library did not stop the protesters from disrupting the events. In fact, when Moms for Liberty hosted an event titled “Forum on Fair and Safe Sport for Girls,” which they called an event to empower and protect girls’ sports and female athletes, a librarian, before the event, told the organizers that California state law recognizes “transgender” as “protected” and that they would have to refer to men who identify as women as women.