By Beth Bourne
Introduction
On 12-28-2023 the Davis Enterprise published a commentary entitled “The anti-gay agenda of Moms for Liberty” by Robert Bulman that slanders Moms for Liberty and Beth Bourne, who is identified as “Yolo County chair of Moms for Liberty.” Bulman uses slander, deceptions, exaggerations, illogic, and guilt by association in his attack, with such wording as “narrow and superficial view, anti-trans activists, moral panic about transgender identities, right-wing activists, puritanical authoritarianism, cruel anti-gay discourse.” Beth was not contacted about this commentary for comments prior to its publication.
Beth contacted the editor of the Davis Enterprise, who agreed to publish her response, which was prepared and submitted. On 01-05-2023 she received an email from the editor stating that “we just can’t give you a platform in the newspaper … So we will not be 
publishing your column. My mistake was saying yes in the first place … my decision is final.”
Beth’s arguments should be allowed to be heard and considered so that the public can make its own decisions. Below is the original article by Bulman and the rejected response.
Beth Bourn’s full response:
I am the unnamed Chair of Moms for Liberty, Yolo County chapter, as mentioned in the 12-28-23 Davis Enterprise Commentary: “The anti-gay agenda of Moms for Liberty” by Robert Bulman. Bulman often posts the same unfounded anti-gay charge against our group on my public Facebook page, where I repost public social media statements by local educators who publicly support teaching, promoting, and celebrating transgenderism to youth in our taxpayer-supported public schools. My page is open to all and I do not agree or disagree with all comments there, as Mr. Bulman falsely implies.
Moms for Liberty (M4L) is “dedicated to fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government” and envisions “Americans empowered and thriving in a culture of Liberty.” The group strongly supports parents raising their children rather than the state through the taxpayer-supported public school bureaucracy and the unions. As for the claims that M4L is “anti-gay,” this is untrue, in fact, one of the group’s top leaders is lesbian, the organization has gay chapter chairs including in California, and some chapter chairs have gay kids.
There is much misinformation and illogic in the article, but Mr. Bulman correctly characterizes some of my beliefs. I believe that sex is binary and immutable in humans and that ‘gender’ is a social construct that is used to explain variations of masculine and feminine characteristics (sex stereotypes) in individuals. And it is true that we only “object to the ‘T’ and ‘Q’ in the acronym” LGBTQ for kids in public schools.
The new flags in public schools all over Davis are the (2018) LGBTQ Progress Pride Flag that joins ‘LGB’ to ‘TQ’ into one unit. Mr. Bulman’s primary argument is that if one is against the ‘TQ’ part, then one is also against the ‘LGB’ part, that they cannot be separated. This argument is false. The letters ‘L’, ‘G’, and ‘B’ refer to sexual and romantic orientation and actions. As such they clearly recognize the reality that human sex is binary, with males and females with different sexual attributes.
The concept of ‘Transgenderism’ that people can have a gender that does not align with their biological sex comes from Queer Theory’s unscientific idea of a spectrum of genders (infinite sexes and genders–google “gender spectrum” or the “Genderbread Person,” both which are used in Davis junior high health classes). We stand against teaching the false principles of Queer Theory as fact to youth in public schools and demand at the least that alternate views be provided per Davis Unified School Board Policy 6144 and that pornography be prohibited per several board policies. We also believe parents should be informed about what our children are being taught and have the right to raise concerns and objections.
Bulman appears to be unaware that there are many gay, lesbian, and bisexual journalists and writers who also question gender ideology and are outspoken with their concerns around nonconforming gay youth. Examples include Bari Weiss, Katie Herzog, Andrew Sullivan, Douglas Murray, and Chadwick Moore.
A sensible statement of our position can be found on the website of Gays Against Groomers: We stand against “the recent trend of indoctrinating, sexualizing and medicalizing children under the guise of ‘LGBTQIA+’.” We believe that the recent explosion of gender dysphoria among public school children is mainly a social contagion and would diminish greatly if school educators and counselors would stop teaching, promoting, and celebrating it.
I know that social gender affirmation is happening in the elementary, junior high, and high schools in Davis. Davis public school teachers have stated that they will use a student’s new name, preferred pronouns, and new gender identity without notifying the parents if they believe it is ‘safer’ to not include the parents. My concern is the social-transition is the first step in the pathway to medical transitioning, which includes risky drugs (puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones) and irreversible surgeries.
Bulman’s commentary states, “Just as there is no clear biological explanation for transgender identities, neither is there a clear biological explanation for gay identities.” This is false. Sexuality, whether heterosexuality or homosexuality, is an orientation and not an identity. To be gay never requires medical procedure or drugs.
Mr. Bulman states that “They [M4L) argue that homophobic parents and teachers are pushing gay kids toward a trans identity to avoid the stigma of homosexuality.” This is not true: What I have said is that a high proportion of detransitioned (returning to their natal sex) adults have said they were seduced by the transgender ideology into believing that their same-sex attraction is caused by their being of some other sex, an idea that schools teach and promote.
We also have a great deal of evidence that many detransitioners speak of undiagnosed issues and comorbidities such as childhood trauma, depression/OCD/ADHD, and autism as being contributing factors in their belief that they were transgender as teens.
I highly recommend reading “Gender-Affirming Care Is Dangerous — I Know Because I Helped Pioneer It” by Riittakerttu Kaltiala in the Free Press, or Colin Wright, PhD, who spoke last April at the Davis branch library, or any of the writers listed above.
Lastly, as I have stated before to the press, I am a lifelong Democrat and consider myself a liberal. I became involved in this issue after my family was impacted. I have always believed it is important to speak up when something is not right and people are being harmed, especially when I know so many parents who would like to speak on this subject, but are terrified to do so, because of the intense backlash against those who do speak up.
Beth Bourne is chair of the Moms for Liberty, Yolo County chapter. She is also a co-leader of Our Duty – Nor Cal, a parent support group. Her two children attended DJUSD schools from preschool at Davis Parent Nursery School through Davis Senior High School.
Beth is a conservative extremist in sheep’s clothing. She uses the term ‘woke’ to disparage liberals. She is no more of a liberal than Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis.