The College Fix

‘First Amendment applies to social media just as it does in the offline world,’ legal group says

The University of California Davis no longer prohibits its own employee from seeing posts on X (formerly known as Twitter), following a letter from a free speech group.

The public university’s “Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” had prohibited Beth Bourne from reading its posts at least as of the end of May. She also works for the university.

Bourne had previously criticized the university for a “Pride Month” post,” according to the letter from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

She describes herself as a “Mom questioning gender ideology in [California] schools.” She also chairs a Moms for Liberty chapter in Yolo County.

She was involved in an altercation with Professor Seeta Chaganti. In a video, Bourne is seen protesting transgender surgeries on women. “Put a gun in your mouth you piece of shit,” Chaganti yells at Bourne. Chaganti did not respond to a College Fix inquiry.

The Fix asked if there was additional context to add to the situation and if she supported Bourne’s X ban.

FIRE’s Director of Public Advocacy Aaron Terr thanked the university for responding to his letter.

“UC Davis confirmed that its DEI Division had unblocked Bourne on its social media accounts,” Terr told The Fix via email.

WOW. This doesn’t seem very “inclusive” of our @UCD_Diversity office to block me on Twitter. I’m also pretty sure it’s illegal. 🚨🚨@ucdavis is a public university and their Twitter/x account is a public forum. Why are they censoring me from expressing my viewpoints on tran$… pic.twitter.com/3zRrN2Bn8j

— Beth Bourne (@bourne_beth2345) May 27, 2024

The DEI division did not respond to a request for comment from The Fix.

“The First Amendment applies to social media just as it does in the offline world,” Terr told The Fix. “It doesn’t matter if someone is expressing their views in a public park, at a town council meeting, or on X.”

“Social media’s prominent role in public discourse makes it all the more important for government officials, including public university administrators, to understand and respect limits on their authority to police online speech,” Terr said.

Bourne declined to comment on the situation for legal reasons.

However, she did tell The Fix there is a petition to have her fired from her position as the university’s sustainable transportation energy pathways coordinator relating to a different situation. The petition stemmed from a viral video of her criticizing drag queens for performing in a hotel where kids could see them.

Bourne also shared a comment she gave the Davis Enterprise, a local newspaper.

“I have the First Amendment right to speak as a private citizen, and I will never stop advocating for others, regardless of a vocal minority’s efforts to harass me and threaten my employment because they don’t like what I’m saying,” Bourne said. “I am a devoted employee of UC Davis, and it’s sad that some people feel that I should lose my livelihood just for exercising my rights.”

“As I’ve been sharing publicly for the last 1.5 years, I believe in the rights of girls and women to have fair and safe sports and sex-segregated spaces, like bathrooms, shelters and prisons as originally intended by Title IX,” she said.

“I also believe California should look to European countries like Sweden, Norway, Finland, the UK, and France that have all halted ‘gender affirming care’ for minors because there is no long-term evidence to support it.”

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IMAGE: Beth Bourne/X

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