Speaking Out： Sophia Lorey's Story
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Summary
Sophia Laurie was kicked out of a public library for using the pronouns "biological man" and "male" at a public forum in California. She is fighting back and fighting for women's sports and spaces across the country.
Transcript
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Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line, but first...
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There, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.
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Welcome back to the Gains for Girls podcast. Today's guest is someone who has been affected
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by the gender ideology movement. Of course, negatively affected by the gender ideology
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movement. Really, actually, what had happened here is her first amendment rights were infringed upon.
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Her name is Sophia Laurie. She is from California. She was speaking at a public library in Davis,
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California. And ultimately, for using the verbiage of biological man, the library shut the event down
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and kicked her out. But she is not staying silent. She is fighting back, which is what we all need to
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do. And we are so grateful to have her lawyer from Alliance Defending Freedom join on with us today.
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So check out the interview with Sophia Laurie. Well, Sophia, I am so glad you are coming on
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the podcast. And really, I'm just grateful for your friendship over these past few months
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since your story really broke. But I wanted to kind of just start by, you know, you were a college
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athlete. And so I want to give you an opportunity to talk about your time as a college athlete. Of
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course, you know, the work that goes into it and what it meant to you to be able to play at the
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highest level. Yeah, well, thanks for having me on, Riley. And I feel the same way. So grateful for
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the friendship we have and just everything you're doing to protect women's sports and spaces across
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the whole nation. It means the world to me and I know everyone else. But yeah, like you said,
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I played college soccer. And so I played at Vanguard University in Southern California. And I knew since
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I was about 10 years old, that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a college soccer player.
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And I got to do it. I got the scholarship to do it when I was in high school and moved on,
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went to Vanguard. And it was truly the best experience of my life. You know, it's a lot of
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work. But being soccer, it's a fall sport. So we moved into campus a month early. So the second
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college started, I already had friends. I already had my teammates. I already had those girls to
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figure out campus with. And those seniors were able to show us around, give us the best routes
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to get to classes, tell us the best professors to take. And so it really accelerated my college
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experience. It got us going. It got us understanding how college worked. And so I was so appreciative of
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that. But yeah, it was a lot of work. You know, you wake up those the first month before college
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even starts. You're practicing two, three times a day. You're basically only taking a break to
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eat your lunch and take a nice bath before you get back to the field. And, you know, it's here in
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Southern California, it's about 100 degrees on a turf field. And so that's being said, it's normally
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about 20 degrees hotter on your feet because of the turf. And so it's a lot, but it's absolutely worth
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it. You know, we were fourth in the nation, my freshman and sophomore year, we got to go to nationals
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where the top 16 teams go. And so those experiences, I couldn't trade for the world. I, it brought me
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everything I learned that I'm now using in my career, as well as my closest friends. I'm, I lived with
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my college teammates. I was in two of their weddings now at this point, been at a few others. And one of
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them is now pregnant and we're celebrating her and her baby shower. And so there's so many great things
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that come out of it. And yeah, it just, everything I could have imagined and more. And so that's why I'm
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really choosing to speak out and make a stand for girls being able to still have those opportunities.
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Absolutely. And I love how you brought up the relationships you develop as well, because
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that's a big part of it. Of course, the characteristic, how you develop as a person,
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but your friends, your coaches, all of those things, it plays a big part in who you are. So,
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um, but you mentioned taking a stand. Uh, I'm sure a lot of people have seen the video that,
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that really went viral. Um, I want to give you the opportunity to talk about it, but a little
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background here. Uh, of course, this was in Davis, California, uh, a public library. I mean, tell us,
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tell us what happened, uh, and really how now you've, you've developed, I would say the platform that
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you have. Yeah. So I was invited to speak at, um, a forum for fair and safe sports for girls
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at the Davis library in Yolo County. And so I was there not even to give the stats or stories about
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girls that have been injured by men and give the scientific facts as to why men don't belong in
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women's sports. I was there to simply share my experience about being a college athlete.
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And that's all I had prepped. I didn't even write a speech. It was supposed to just be to about like
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20 moms, dads, grandparents in the area. So it wasn't this super intense situation,
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but it quickly turned into one. Um, we had a lot of protesters show up. They at first kind of just
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stood outside the room as the event was getting set up. We were putting the chairs out and then all of a
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sudden they all came in and took a seat. And so when we kicked off the event, I made it clear that
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all these people here would have the opportunity to have questions or make their comments at the end
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of the event. We had an attorney there to speak. We had, um, Kim Jones there. We had a lot of great
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people there that were going to speak about this issue of men and women's sports. So I wanted them to
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all be able to share their stories and their information without anything going on. And then I began to
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speak after making it clear, we needed to be respectful and wait for Q and a that's when I shared
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that at 10 years old, I wanted to be a college athlete and I was able to achieve that. But current
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girls can't, as long as men are taking away their spots or injuring them from playing their sport quickly,
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the crowd began to heckle me. They weren't too happy that I said men and women's sports. Um, the librarian
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actually stepped in as well and told me that if I didn't change my language, he would actually have to
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shut down the meeting. And so he, I just continued on. I knew I wouldn't have much longer. So I just wanted
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to get the point across that men don't belong in women's sports. And that's when he told me I had to leave
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or the meeting would be shut down. So I stepped aside and the next speaker went up ready to go. And he
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eventually came in and shut down the entire meeting. Wow. You even change the verbiage to
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biological male. And that still wasn't enough for the library. Uh, so it seemed as if, of course,
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you know, not only were they asking you to, to change what you were saying, they were basically
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asking you to deny the truth. I mean, to not say reality. And so Tyson, uh, oh my gosh, we have had
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the pleasure of corresponding together on different things. Uh, one, please tell us, you know, you,
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what your role is, uh, and to kind of explain the legal side of things, because now, uh, you guys
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are pursuing litigation. Uh, and so would you mind explaining what this looks like? Sure. So thanks
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so much for having me Riley. And, uh, for all you're doing out there, uh, I've got five kids and
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coached my, my girls in soccer as well, and seeing all of the work that goes into it. So this is
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important, uh, in my role as the director of the center for academic freedom, you know, our goal
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is to protect that the marketplace of ideas, uh, right. And that's what the first amendment
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essentially does. But what happened to Sophia and to the other women at this event was they were shut
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down by a government official. They were told that you can't speak because of your viewpoint.
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So the, the, the protesters there, they were able to express their viewpoint that they believe
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is gender is fluid and, and that you, you know, that a man can become a woman just by
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declaring it, but Sophia wasn't able to articulate her position, right. Without being censored. And
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that's, that's contrary to the first amendment. I mean, it, it, it, the bedrock of our first
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amendment is that a government official cannot shut somebody down simply because they disliked
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their viewpoint, but that's exactly what happened. So after this happened, we heard about it and,
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uh, we're great friends with Sophia and the California family council doing all the great
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work they're doing out there. We heard about this. And so we said, Hey, we want to help you
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out. So we sent a letter to the library and we said, look, uh, Sophia has the right to
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call men, men. That's not a violation of California law. And it's protected by the first amendment.
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And we would just ask that you allow them to do another event and guarantee that they won't
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be censored. Unfortunately, they sent a letter back and basically, you know, obfuscated the
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issue. They wouldn't really agree to it. And so we had to file a lawsuit because, um, not
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only Sophia, but Beth born out there with moms for Liberty is doing great work at the library,
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exposing all of these different things. She holds events at the library and we want her to be able
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to hold those events without being censored by people who disagree with her viewpoints. So we
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filed a lawsuit and we're asking the court to enjoin, to stop the policies that are being enforced
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against Beth and, and Sophia and the other women that are trying to speak courageously on,
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on really important topics like men competing in women's sports.
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Well, absolutely. Uh, since, you know, the lawsuit has been filed, what, what kind of does the
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timeline look like? You know, has the library responded in any way? And I guess really my
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question is, uh, do you believe this is a winnable case? Because to me, obviously with no, uh, law
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expertise here, what I see, and I imagine how Sophia felt was a clear violation, just as you described
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of her first amendments. Uh, so I would, I would see this as a winnable case, but from a lawyer's
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perspective, what are you thinking there? And of course, I know nothing is set in stone until it is,
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Yeah, it's absolutely a winnable case because, uh, again, the Supreme court has made clear time
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and time again, that the first amendment, uh, does not allow a government official to determine
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what content or viewpoint is allowed in a forum. So the library didn't have to open up its meeting
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rooms for the public to use them. But when they do, they have to allow all everyone to use those
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facilities, uh, regardless of their viewpoint. Um, and that is, it's clear that in no case in a public
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forum, does a government have the right to censor based upon viewpoint. And that's what happened here.
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Um, you know, it's, it's very difficult to articulate an argument in favor of protecting
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women's sports. If we can't, if we can't distinguish between men and women, if we can't
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communicate clearly, what is a man and what is a woman, right? And that's what they were trying to
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do. They're trying to shut down the event. They're trying to shut down the debate by, by siding with
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one side over the other, uh, in employing these speech codes. And that's, that's wrong. So thankfully,
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after we filed suit, the library's attorney did reach out to us and, and said that they
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are actually amending the policies. They're in the process of that and have indicated that
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they will allow Sophia and the other women to come back and host another event without
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censoring them. So we're thankful for that, but we obviously have to ensure one that the
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policies they enact are good because the librarian clearly had a wrong view of the first amendment.
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He literally said, this is a violation of California law to allow you to call men
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men. Uh, and, uh, he, he clearly doesn't understand us. We need a good policy in place
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that makes sure to protect, uh, everyone when they go use these policies, these, uh, meeting
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rooms, um, in, in, in the future. Absolutely. Um, I remember after this story, you know,
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especially that video went viral. I of course took to my social media to talk about it. Uh, and
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then I was accused for inciting a bomb threat into the library, which is absolutely ridiculous. Uh,
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because of course I condemn all acts of violence, regardless of who it's from. Um, but Sophia,
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this lawsuit is important? Uh, and what do you hope to accomplish from it? Yeah, well, you know,
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it started off as being a whole issue of protecting women's sports and then the situation happens. We're
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in this lawsuit and it adds this whole other factor of now it's to protect our free speech. And I think
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this lawsuit's extremely important because I'm not just saying, Hey, we're here because we want our
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free speech protected. We want everyone's free speech protected. I don't care if you agree with
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me or disagree with me. We're here in America. We have that first amendment, right? And everyone
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deserves to have that. And also we have so many things going on, um, legally and also just across
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the nation here in California, all the way up to DC, people are trying to put bills into place that
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are protecting women's sports. People are trying to put bills in place that are
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attacking women's sports, all these different things. We can't progress as a society. We can't
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figure these things out as a society if we don't even have the freedom of speech to talk and respect
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each other. And so that's why this case is important. It's so we can continue to have these
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conversations. And so more Americans understand we have the right to have these conversations.
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Absolutely. Uh, and those issues I've realized too, they certainly go hand in hand.
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Um, this, I would say the gender ideology movement as a whole and the suppression of our freedoms.
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Um, you know, a lot of people would look at this, uh, and say, I think a lot of people do
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say, actually, I'm certain people do because we have a lot of people from California moving to my home
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state of Tennessee. Uh, but people will say, you know, California is a lost cause. You know,
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there's nothing we can do here. It's an uphill battle. We can't really win this, this fight.
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Uh, why is this important, especially in the state of California? You know, why,
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why is it important to stay and fight? Yeah. So what people don't realize is there is a lot of
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Christians here in California. There's a lot of conservatives here in California that are fighting
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and fighting hard. And so we need to unite and keep fighting because right now we have a lot of
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attacks coming on gender and this whole gender ideology on children from our capital, from our
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legislators. And if we don't push back, it's not going to stay just here in California. It's going
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to go across the whole nation. We watched it happen. We had a bill that made California basically a trans
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sanctuary state that became into law in 2022. We then watched Minnesota basically recreate that same
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law in 2023. So it's, it's not just staying in California. What happens in California happens
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across the nation. And that also means if we can fix it and stop it here in California,
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we ultimately can fix it and stop it across the whole nation. And so we actually have a ballot
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initiative. We're trying to get on the ballot, um, for 2024 election and it's called the protect kids
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initiative. You can go to protect kids, California, and basically it's three simple things.
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It's that men can't go into women's locker rooms, bathrooms, and sports teams. It's that public schools
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have to inform the parents if their child chooses to identify as a different gender or wants to use
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a different locker room or have a different name. And it's also that if a child is under 18,
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they can't have mutilating and sterilizing surgeries. So it's basically common sense things. And if we can get
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that on the ballot, the polls are showing that here in California will be successful, that will pass.
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And again, if we do that here in California, I think we see a whole change across the entire nation.
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Gosh, absolutely. Uh, so to reiterate that, uh, is it protect kids, ca.org or.com?
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Yes. Okay. So if you believe in the safeguarding of children, uh, parental rights and keeping women's
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sports for women, uh, of course, everyone should go to protect kids, ca.org, especially if you're a
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Californian, uh, and let your voice be heard. Because I think, I believe now more than ever,
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people are looking for outlets to let their voice be heard. And this is certainly one of
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those things. Uh, and, and so Sophia, you know, what's, what's next for you? I'm sure you could
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have never imagined yourself personally in this position. Uh, so what's next as this, this lawsuit
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continues on, uh, what does the future look like for you? Yeah. Well, we're hoping to host the event
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at the library again. So that's going to be one of the next major things of actually being able to
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share our stories, share the scientific information, share basic biology and truth
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to the Davis community. And so that's coming up hopefully, um, early in 2024. We'll see that
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happen as well as since I work with California family council, we'll have a big fight in the
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legislative session. Um, we have some pretty rough bills coming back this year. Last year,
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I had to testify to our legislators that men don't menstruate. Um, you think that would be common
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sense. Um, I sat up there, I just gave a two minute speech about how they are erasing women.
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It's common sense that men don't menstruate and we don't need to be using our taxpayer dollars to put
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menstrual products in men's restrooms was immediately called, um, homophobic, transphobic,
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a hate group, all these different names. And so the goal is really just to bring light to that,
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to, you know, I know when I go and testify, it's not going to necessarily change the legislators'
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minds. But if we can bring light and let Californians aware of what our legislators are
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doing, I think we can see a change here in California. So the goal is for at least the
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next year to make California a better place for the next generation to come.
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Gosh, absolutely. And, and you hit it on the head. It is for the next generation
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because they're ultimately the ones who are going to be left to deal with a lot of the nonsense,
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really the lunacy, uh, that we're allowing now. And so I could not be more grateful for both you
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and California Family Council, um, an amazing group of people who do amazing work, uh, in a climate where
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it is tough. Uh, there's a lot of vitriol, uh, again, a lot of just, I would say lack of common
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sense sometimes coming from the leaders of the state. Uh, so to stay and fight so hard is incredibly
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admirable. And I believe something that people across the nation could learn from. Um, and so
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before we wrap up, uh, Tyson, I wanted to very briefly ask you, um, about a case that ADF has
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taken on and has done a phenomenal job with really this, this case, uh, it was the first I had heard
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of this issue of allowing men into women's sports, uh, anywhere in the nation. And of course,
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this is the Connecticut case. Uh, a lot of people may know of it. Um, but there was a big win
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recently surrounding this case. Uh, do you mind kind of briefly explaining what just happened
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and why this is a win for sanity? Uh, and of course for women, uh, especially women in sports?
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Absolutely. So yeah, we represent a number of, uh, high school female track athletes in Connecticut,
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uh, who were, uh, denied, uh, the ability to, uh, win state championships and, and other
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track meets and accomplishments and, and get scholarships and so forth, because two men,
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two biological men chose to compete. They, they moved from competing against men into the female
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competition. And they came in and just start blowing out, uh, the competition. And, and we
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represent our, our, our athletes were phenomenal. They were, they were at the top of their game and
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yet they were getting beaten, taking away opportunities. So, uh, that actually was, uh,
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authorized by Connecticut, um, the, the, their, their association of athletics, which governs all
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high school athletics. And it, it allows this, it allowed men to compete in women's sports. And so we
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challenged that we filed a lawsuit, uh, and the district court dismissed it. And they basically
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said, well, there's really no harm to these girls. One, because a couple of them have, have now
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graduated and went on. And they've also said there, there, there isn't any harm. They didn't take away.
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They, they essentially said women don't have a right to win women's, uh, you know,
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they have a right to compete, but they don't have a right to win. Right. Um, and we appealed
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that to the second circuit. We initially lost there before a panel that went to the en banc,
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meaning the entire circuit, uh, 15 judges. And they just yesterday reversed that decision
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and sent it back to the circuit court and the district court and said, you have stated a claim.
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If you can prove what you've, what you've alleged in here, then you do have the right to,
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to, uh, potentially receive a recovery. So we're really excited about that.
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As you indicated, that's the first lawsuit in the country that was filed on these issues.
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It really is what spawned a lot of the discussions around this. And we're so thankful for the clients
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that were willing to stand up. And we're really excited to be able to get back into court and to
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prove that, that it is that, that laws that allow men to compete against women are harmful.
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They do harm women every time they're taking away opportunities. Um, and, and it shouldn't be
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allowed and we need to protect the ability for women to compete in, in women's sports.
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That's amazing. And again, we're grateful for your work. Of course, the girls, uh, Selena has
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just been a warrior. One of, one of the plaintiffs, uh, in this lawsuit has just been a warrior throughout
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all of this. Um, and I, I'm so grateful for her and the other girls as well. Um, to my understanding,
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there's never been a title nine case brought before the Supreme court either. Uh, so this could really
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set a precedent there as well, if it makes it to that point, which hopefully it doesn't have to.
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Yeah, hopefully it doesn't, but I mean, the bottom line is title nine is clear. The whole purpose of title
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nine was to protect, uh, you know, women's rights to have equal access to sports. And, and so we think
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that's a, you know, uh, that a clear interpretation and we're hoping we don't have to get the Supreme
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court, but if that's what it takes, we're willing to fight all the ways to ensure that all women have
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equal access, uh, to be able to compete and that their, their spaces are not invaded by men.
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And that they have the right to win, just like you said, because just as men have the right to win,
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so do women. Uh, so we are so grateful for both of you. Uh, Sophia, we will certainly be following
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along, uh, with your lawsuit and what that looks like and how we can help amplify and support you,
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uh, and the work that you're doing, not just for the people of California, but really for people
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across the nation, uh, especially young girls and women whose future and whose opportunities are on the
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line here. Uh, so thank you both very much for coming on today.
00:23:35.640
Thank you guys for tuning in to the gains for girls podcast. Uh, I think we really could all
00:23:39.720
learn something from Sophia and that is to fight, uh, whatever that fight may be. Ronald Reagan himself
00:23:46.120
said that our freedoms are never more than one generation away from extinction. Uh, and I think
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what Sophia went through and what others around the country country continued to go through certainly
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proves that to be true. Uh, but again, thank you guys for tuning in. I hope you all had a Merry
00:24:01.640
Christmas. Uh, make sure you like comment, subscribe anywhere where you get your podcast. Uh, of course,
00:24:07.320
outkick.com and we will see you guys next week.