The chair of the Moms for Liberty California chapter went viral in a video clip harassing drag queens in the lobby of a Hawaiian hotel on Sunday.
The clip was first posted by Hawaii-area drag queen Marina del Rey to her Facebook profile. In the two-minute long clip, the woman, identified as Beth Bourne, begins recording video with her cell phone and starts berating drag queens that were in the lobby of the Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach.
The clip opens with her asking for someone to call the police, before launching into her tirade.
READ MORE: Drag Queen Story Hour Interrupted by Neo-Nazis Seen in Terrifying Video
“I’m sorry, but this is — I paid to be a customer at a hotel where I thought you believed that women were real. That because you put on makeup, because you’re wearing high heels, because you have a Barbie outfit on, that you don’t think this is degrading? This is misogyny,” Bourne says.
She says that if the hotel refunds her money, she will leave, but she’s “not going to have my children come down from the 30th floor and see what’s happening here.” A hotel representative tries to calm her down, but then she starts accosting one of the drag queens.
“Are you in the hotel? Are you dressed up? Are you a man? Are you a man pretending to be a woman?” she asks the queen, who says they’re not “pretending to be anything.”
“What do you think about my son, who might think that he can put on makeup and put on fancy clothing and high heels and have his penis cut off and take estrogen so he can grow fake boobs like those?” she continues.
She keeps yelling at the hotel representative, announcing she paid $3,000 to stay in the hotel and that the sight of the drag queens is “degrading.” The queens start to chuckle at the awkward situation, which sets her off again. She starts asking for the drag queens to identify themselves and tell her “why you think it’s okay to put on a clown costume and do this to young children.” It should be mentioned, no children can be seen in the clip.
She again asks to speak to the police — and she apparently got her wish. Del Rey says that Bourne was handcuffed and escorted out of the hotel for causing a disturbance. Bourne was not actually arrested or charged, del Rey said, but the hotel did trespass her from the property.
In another post, del Ray said that the queens were there to record a video for a pageant. The premise of the video was that the drag queens were posing as hotel staff while in full drag.
“This woman saw us filming and came to a slow burn and then she popped off. Her rant went on and on – possibly with the attempt to get a riled angered response. She didn’t get one. In this video – you see my perspective. In her video – u will see three drag queens surrounded by staff and guests – just sitting down,” del Rey wrote.
She also had kind words for the real hotel staff and the witnesses who “extended compassion of which I’m very very grateful.”
Bourne herself reposted the queens’ video to X. She says that “several other Alohilani hotel guests told me they also found it offensive so I spoke up to the manager yesterday.” She also posted her own video, showing the queens sitting in the lobby.
Her video shows the beginning of the conversation, which starts calmly, with her attempting to debate the queens. But she gets more and more angry — one of the queens even points out that Bourne is “shivering.” Bourne also films the concierge desk so “everyone” will know what the hotel is.
“I paid $3,000 so I can believe in biological reality! I am a real woman! You are fake!” Bourne says.
“I know!” the queen fires back.
The last minute of Bourne’s video overlaps with Marina del Rey’s video, providing the context. In the clip, we can clearly see the drag queens acting calmly.
Bourne is the chair of the California chapter of Moms for Liberty, which has been designated a far-right extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Her bio on X describes herself as a “Mom questioning gender ideology in CA schools,” and clarifies that her views are her own, “not my employer, UC Davis where 1/22 kids is trans.”
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green told Hawaii News Now that he was “proud” of the drag queens.
“The video was upsetting, no question. I am proud of the performers from Hawai’i’s LGBTQIA community who maintained their dignity and integrity in the face of such a hostile attack. This type of behavior is unacceptable. It is not aloha, and we will not tolerate it from anyone,” Green said.
Bourne’s employer, UC Davis, released a statement later on Tuesday, condemning Bourne’s actions.
“We are aware of a widely circulated video in which a university employee makes a number of offensive statements. We condemn these statements as deeply hurtful. While the employee’s comments are protected by the First Amendment, they do not reflect the values of respect and belonging that form the foundation of our campus community,” the statement read.
“To the LGBTQ community, UC Davis is a place where you should feel seen and supported. June is when the nation celebrates Pride Month, and at UC Davis we’re committed to making sure this community has every opportunity to thrive and flourish on our campus.”
Update (6/25/2024, 7:30 p.m. ET): This story has been updated to include UC Davis’ statement.
Featured image taken from a screenshot of Marina Del Rey’s video.