A school board meeting took an unusual turn when a parent resorted to a dramatic display at the podium during her public comment by undressing in front of the board members and the crowd.
The woman is a well-known parents’ rights activist in Davis.
She said she felt the only way to get the board’s attention was to turn to drastic measures by taking off her shirt and then her pants to get her point across.
“Yesterday, as I was preparing my comments, I thought, you know what, I’m going to try something different,” said Beth Bourne.
Bourne said she’s gone in front of the Davis Unified School Board every month for the last three years to talk about her concerns surrounding locker room policies, which allow students to self-identify gender and choose where to change and use the restroom.
“I just thought I would show the school board what it’s like to change into your P.E. clothing and I had a bathing suit on, so everything was covered as far as my body,” she said.
She said the board called her actions disruptive and called a recess. After a five-minute break, she went back up to finish her comments, again removing her clothing before another recess was called.
“If the adults don’t feel comfortable watching someone, and I’m a 50-year-old woman, how can they expect girls to feel comfortable doing that in the locker room?” she said. “I thought I made a really good point.”
Our reporter asked Bourne if she considered what she did disruptive.
“I don’t think it was disruptive. What was disruptive is interrupting my three minutes of free speech,” she said. “That didn’t stop the flow of the meeting; I didn’t prevent the next person from giving their three minutes of comments.”
We reached out to the district for an interview, but instead they sent us a statement saying they are committed to taking public comments during the meeting, but that quote:
“In cases where that conduct disrupts the normal course of business, the board chairperson may pause the meeting and request that those disrupting the meeting leave chambers.”
“California is a bubble, Davis is a bubble. We’re a bubble in a bubble, so there’s really not much open discussion about these issues in this town,” said Bourne.