At least 250 people lined Broadway outside Sonoma Valley High School on Tuesday, Oct. 13, waving flags and chanting. They were protesting the school board's decision to take down the Pride flag. One woman stood against the crowd.
Beth Bourne, 56, of Davis, carried one sign: "Gender clinics harm children." By the end of the afternoon she was in the Sonoma County jail.
The sign
Bourne walked among the students gathered in front of the school. Press Democrat photographer Christopher Chung captured a student grabbing her sign and the struggle that followed. None of the reports say the student was arrested.
Police escorted Bourne away. She kept going back. Officers then arrested her on suspicion of misdemeanor trespassing, and students cheered as she was taken away.
A few feet of sidewalk
Police say she was on school property. Sonoma Police Chief Brandon Cutting told the Davis Enterprise she was on the sidewalk, "parts of which are considered school property," and that "at a certain point her presence became antagonistic, and there were concerns for safety."
Parts. Sonoma County's parcel map, which the county says is for reference and not survey-accurate, puts the school's property line right along that sidewalk. No fence, sign or marker shows in any of the news photos. Whether she stood on school land or public sidewalk may come down to a few feet of unmarked pavement.
Meanwhile, hundreds of adults rallied against her message from the public sidewalk across the street.
What the law says
The bottom line: peaceful protest on a public sidewalk is protected in California. If other people get angry at your sign, that is not your crime.
The U.S. Supreme Court has said sidewalks have "immemorially been held in trust for the use of the public" (Hague v. CIO). California's Constitution goes further. Article I, Section 2 says every person may freely speak "on all subjects."
California does have a school-trespass law, Penal Code 626.8. It covers school grounds and the sidewalks next to them. It bans disrupting a school and then staying, or coming back, after police tell you to leave. But the law itself says it can't be used against lawful free speech or assembly.
A federal appeals court has ruled on exactly this law. In *Center for Bio-Ethical Reform v. Los Angeles County Sheriff Department* (2008), the Ninth Circuit said a crowd's reaction to a message can't be used to punish the speaker. Upsetting words and images are "not covered by the statute."
The open question is what police will say she did. They say she was on school property, was told to leave, and kept coming back. Coming back after being told to leave is the part of the law that can make it a crime. The reports don't say which trespass law she was booked under, and no charge had been filed as of Wednesday morning.
Thursday in court
Bourne was booked shortly after 3:30 p.m. and released that evening. Her arraignment is set for 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, in Sonoma County Superior Court. As of late Wednesday morning no formal complaint had been filed, according to the Davis Enterprise.
She also faces two misdemeanor charges in Yolo County, set for arraignment Oct. 19, alleging she violated a June civil restraining order over social media posts. Her attorney, Jesse Franklin-Murdock, calls that prosecution "fatally defective."
Bourne chairs the Yolo County chapter of Moms for Liberty and is on the Nov. 3 ballot for the Davis Joint Unified School District board. Hundreds turned out to drown out one sign. She held it anyway.
Cover photo: Christopher Chung/The Press Democrat
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