A Moms for Liberty activist stripped down to her bikini at a California school board meeting to protest the school’s policy allowing transgender students to pick which bathrooms they want to use.
Beth Bourne, the Yolo County chapter chairwoman for Moms for Liberty, removed her clothes during a September 18 Davis Joint Unified School District meeting. It’s not the first time one of her events has caused headlines at the school, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Back in 2023, Bourne hosted an event discussing trans athletes in school sports. After the event, schools in Davis received bomb threats, according to the paper.
Moms for Liberty is a nonprofit that describes itself as being an advocacy group for parental rights.
The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Moms for Liberty as a “far-right organization that engages in anti-student inclusion activities and self-identifies as part of the modern parental rights movement. The group grew out of opposition to public health regulations for COVID-19, opposes LGBTQ+ and racially inclusive school curriculum, and has advocated books bans.”
Bourne has reportedly been an activist for various causes since the early 1990’s and has also worked in the governments of San Luis Obispo County, Palo Alto, and for the Sacramento Area Council of Governments.
The 55-year-old is a mainstay at school board meetings, where she spars with residents over policies affecting transgender students.
The school board called for a meeting recess twice as Bourne began to disrobe during her comment period.
During her time at the podium, she spent little time talking before she began her stunt.
“So Emerson, Holmes Harper Junior High… right now we require our students to undress for PE class. So I’m just going to give you an idea what that looks like when I undress,” she said, according to the Davis Vanguard.
As she was talking and removing her shirt, the school board’s vice president, Hiram Jackson, interrupted to halt the meeting.
“This is not allowed. We’re going to recess,” he said.
Bourne insisted that she had the right to finish her comments, and accused the board of “violating my first amendment” rights by halting the meeting.
The meeting was halted for about five minutes, and when it reconvened, Jackson told Bourne she could continue, but warned her that “if you disrupt the meeting again, I will gave it in recess and you’ll be asked to leave.”
By that point she had her shirt back on, but shortly into her comments she began to take it off again, at which point Jackson called for a second recess.
According to Trustee Cecilia Escamilla-Greenwald, Bourne was escorted by police into another chamber, given her belongings, and was asked to leave.
She told the Davis Vanguard that the board would be meeting to discuss how to handle situations like Bourne’s stunt in the future.
“We are going to be meeting about this, about what to do in such situations and we’re going to, I know that our superintendent is going to be speaking with counsel to see what can be done because it’s very inappropriate for anybody to be coming before the board and behaving in such a manner,” she said. “It’s very inappropriate.”
The Independent has requested comment from Bourne.
