By: Summer

Does Free Speech Even Exist Anymore???

The librarian interrupted the speaker to let her know that she was “misgendering” by “talking about men in women’s sports”

The librarian of a California public library shut down an event after 10 minutes when one of its speakers referred to transgender athletes competing in women’s sports as male. 

“Current 10-year-old girls cannot live out the same dream [I had] as long as men are allowed to compete in women’s sports,” Sophia Lorey, a former NCAA athlete and outreach coordinator for CA Family Council said at Sunday’s event at the Mary L. Stephens Davis branch library in Davis, California. 

The librarian interrupted Lorey’s speech to let her know that she was “misgendering” by “talking about men in women’s sports,” according to a video of the interaction.

“…I was cut off and told by the librarian I would be removed, so then I continued talking saying ‘biological girls’ and ‘biological men’ to finish sharing my story,” Lorey wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “The librarian then told me to leave and if I won’t leave he will shut the entire meeting down.”

Moms for Liberty (MFL) Yolo County was the main organizer of the event, which featured speakers formerly with the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) and NCAA, as well as legal experts in Title IX and women’s rights policy who planned to speak on “fair and safe” sports for girls, according to a copy of the event flyer obtained by Fox News Digital. 

“The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) prioritizes the wants of males before the needs of females,” the event flyer reads. “It’s time to expose CIF’s discriminatory policies that put girls at risk and remove[] opportunities to excel in sport[s].”

Beth Bourne, the President of the MFL Yolo County chapter and Davis resident, told Fox News Digital that CIF’s current policies affect over 320,000 high school girls in California, “yet very few parents and even athletes themselves understand where the policies originated and how they are expected to be enforced at the schools.”

“Our goal for Sunday’s public forum was to bring transparency to high school sports and these policies, and how they impose risks and reduce girls’ opportunities to excel in sports,” she said. “We choose the Davis branch library community room because we wanted to encourage people with varying viewpoints to hear from the speakers and have an open discussion.”

Bourne said she was “very disappointed” that the event was shut down before the other scheduled speakers including Kim Jones, the co-founder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, could give their remarks. She said they plan to reschedule another public forum on the topic in Davis in the next month or two.

The event was open to the public and included guests who appeared to be counter-protestors, according to the video. 

California Public Library Silences Female Athlete pic.twitter.com/dHYaxBFlr1

— CA Family Council (@CAFamily) August 21, 2023

After the librarian, who is identified as Scott Love, interrupted Lorey’s speech for misgendering, attorney Erin Friday, took the stand, defending Lorey and her right to speak at the event. Friday said she appreciated that people were attending the event to protest its message but noted that “we all have First Amendment rights” and, thus, Lorey should be allowed to speak.

“If the Davis Library violates their own rules, why, there is a bevy of attorneys here and we’d love to file suit … and we win on these first amendment rights because lo and behold, we all have them,” she said. “Your first amendment rights are not higher than my first amendment rights … we all have them.”

“I’m excited that you guys are here, I’m excited that you have your signs and your flags, that’s the American way, to voice your opinion, I’d like to voice mine,” she added. 

“I asked you to leave earlier, so I am still following through with that,” Love told her following her message. 

“It is frightening to see our country implode from the inside out as a public library not only succumb to trans activists’ whims but infringe upon the most important constitutional right – freedom of speech,” Friday told Fox News Digital. “You either believe women are just a thought, or you will be silenced.”

Lorey told Fox News Digital that the government should not be shutting down free speech, even if it is offensive to some, and that as a speaker for the “Fair and Safe Sports for Girls” event, which was held at a public library, she should be able to share her experience as a college soccer player. She said they moved to a nearby public park to finish off the event. 

“I didn’t get far into my prepared remarks before I was interrupted by the librarian for saying, ‘Current 10-year-old girls cannot live out the same dream [I had] as long as men are allowed to compete in women’s sports,'” she said. “He said that statement was misgendering people and violated the library rules requiring people to be treated with respect. I tried to restate the point that biological men should not be playing women’s sports, but that didn’t help and I was asked to leave.”

“I believe males and females are different, and stating that fact shouldn’t have gotten me kicked out of an event,” she added. “All I did was say that men are playing in women’s sports. No one should be punished for stating a biological fact.”

The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) and the Mary L. Stephens Davis branch library did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.