Linking bomb threats at Davis Library to LGBTQ+ hate speech is a logical step | Opinion
A series of bomb threats at a local library is the latest in an American culture war that shows no signs of de-escalating. But neither side of this argument is wholly in the right, and perhaps a murky middle ground isn’t as appealing as a clear villain, but it’s the truth of the matter.
On Sunday, Aug. 20, the conservative political group Moms for Liberty of Yolo County hosted a forum at the Mary L. Stephens branch of the Davis Library, where they discussed “Fair and Safe Sports for Girls.” At this event, members of the group constantly and intentionally misgendered female athletes who have transitioned.
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Sophia Lorey, outreach coordinator for the conservative advocacy group California Family Council, referred in her speech to trans women as “biological males.” A library official, Scott Love, warned her that what she was saying was against the library’s code of conduct, which asks community members to “speak and act in a manner that doesn’t disturb others.” The argument escalated, and eventually, Love asked Lorey and the group to leave the library.
Except, libraries are public spaces. What Lorey and her fellow group members were espousing that Sunday was hateful rhetoric, but they have every right to say it in a government building supported by taxpayers. The library’s position is going to be legally hard to defend in light of Lorey’s First Amendment rights.
The incident went viral on right-wing media and Twitter the following day, and later that same day, a bomb threat was called into the library.
Then another.
Three bomb threats have been called into the Stephens branch since that incident. Now the FBI is involved in investigating. While the Yolo County Sheriffs and other law enforcement are hesitant to connect the Moms for Liberty event with the bomb threats, they have said the latest threat contained “some form of hate speech” against the LGBTQ+ community. Lt. Dan Beckwith of the Davis Police Department said he thought it was likely the incidents were related.
The most recent bomb threat caused the evacuation of not only the library, but also of North Davis Elementary School, which is just east of the library. Classes at North Davis Elementary were not in session that day, but Davis Joint Unified students returned from their summer break after Labor Day weekend.
In a statement, Beth Bourne of Moms for Liberty Yolo County said they were “deeply disheartened to learn of these threats and how it disrupts and jeopardizes the safety of the community.”
“Violence is never the appropriate response. Any news reporting that would imply our organizations are in any way associated with or responsible for these threats is wrong and maliciously inaccurate,” Bourne said.
Except, that’s not true.
The right to free speech on government property does not protect anyone from the consequences of that speech.
What Lorey and others said at that meeting is related to those bomb threats, whether they want to admit it or not. The hateful, anti-transgender views they espouse are the same views held by a rogue faction of this county that sees no problem with calling in multiple bomb threats to a library, no matter how much they might not want to associate themselves with it.
Love was wrong to throw out the group. Lorey and Moms for Liberty are wrong for repeatedly misgendering transgender athletes. And the culprits behind the multiple bomb threats are definitely in the wrong, for obvious and violent reasons.
No one’s right here, and no one has the moral high ground. We have to stop looking for heroes and villains where there aren’t any to be found and forcing them into neat little boxes that we can rally for or rail against. Making either side into a martyr for the cause obfuscates the discussions that need to be had about gendered American sporting events in an era where gender is increasingly fluid, and those discussions can’t be had if we’re screaming at each other across a public library, or evacuating due to a bomb threat.
“The response to speech that you disagree with is always more speech,” Bourne said in her statement.
Now that, at least, we can agree on.
