During a recorded speech on Sunday, California Family Council’s Outreach Coordinator Sophia Lorey was interrupted by the audience and asked to leave by a California librarian for stating that males who “identify” as females still maintain male biology.
Lorey was speaking at the “Forum on Fair and Safe Sports for Girls” put on by the Yolo County Moms for Liberty and held at the Mary L. Stephens Davis Branch Library in Davis, California. The subject of her talk centered around fairness in relation to the involvement of biological males participating in girls’ or women’s sports.
Lorey began by saying that her “dream” as a young girl was to play college soccer. “But current 10-year-old girls cannot live out this same dream as long as men are allowed to compete in women’s sports,” she said. “Allowing biological men in women’s sports does not create an equal playing field, [and] instead robs young biological girls of their athletic aspirations.”
California Public Library Silences Female Athlete pic.twitter.com/dHYaxBFlr1
— CA Family Council (@CAFamily) August 21, 2023
Shortly after she began speaking, several individuals started shouting, alleging that she was “misgendering” and prevented her from completing her speech, even though her lawyer emphasized that it was within her First Amendment rights to speak in this manner.
“California state law recognizes trans women as women,” said one librarian. “Our policy talks about treating people with respect, and if you are misgendering somebody, that is not respectful.”
Another person shouted that biological men who “identify” as women cannot be called men according to the library’s code of conduct.
Erin Friday, an attorney representing Lorey, took the podium to defend Lorey’s First Amendment rights as she was being shouted at by the audience. “We all have First Amendment rights, whether you believe in what I believe or whether I believe in what you believe,” Friday said.
Lorey and Friday were forced to leave the event when Scott Love, the library’s director, said that they could not continue speaking due to their “misgendering.”
The video has already garnered more than 1.3 million views on X, previously known as Twitter. Riley Gaines, an advocate for women’s rights and a former NCAA swimmer commented, saying, “This is ridiculous, but not shocking….a female athlete silenced for calling a spade a spade. They won’t even engage in a civil conversation. Props to this gal for sticking her ground…Do we know the librarians name and/or phone number? We need silent majority to do its thing.”
In another comment, Gaines wrote, “Notice it’s men shouting her down and silencing her.”
The First Amendment trumps unconstitutional library policies and certainly trumps the feelings of audience members. Lorey had every right to continue speaking, but unfortunately, the Left has become increasingly hostile not only toward opposing viewpoints, but toward basic biological facts.
Read Sophia Lorey’s account of what happened here: https://www.californiafamily.org/2023/08/yolo-county-library-violates-first-amendment-censors-cfc-speaker/
Sophia's story makes national news
All I did was say that “Current 10 year old girls cannot live out the same dream [I had] as long as men are allowed to compete in womens sports.” No one should be punished for stating a biological fact.
— Sophia Lorey (@SophiaSLorey) August 22, 2023
Thank you @seanhannity for having me on tonight. Thank you @Riley_Gaines_… pic.twitter.com/QmipN8rn1W
