Library Manager needs to CHECK OUT the First Amendment

Over the weekend, a drama unfolded at a California library, but this story wasn’t in a book. An event focused on women and girls in sports was abruptly halted and declared “over” less than 15 minutes into the program because of alleged misgendering by the event’s speakers.

In shutting down the event — which took place in a publicly available meeting room reserved by the event organizers — a library employee claimed a speaker violated California law and the library’s policies when she used “men,” “male,” and “biological male” to refer to transgender women participating in girls’ and women’s sports. That law, by the way, doesn’t exist — and if it did, it would be unconstitutional.

The only violation of the law was the library manager's infringement of the speakers’ free speech rights. The library manager’s conduct is disturbing to see at a public institution that should be committed to hosting a range of ideas and perspectives and making its resources available to everyone, regardless of their viewpoints or beliefs. The Yolo County Library must commit to meeting its First Amendment obligations going forward.