Man strips in front of girls in locker room, says transgender law allows it
A man twice entered the changing room of a swimming pool and
began disrobing, once in front of a young girls' swim team, saying transgender
policies gave him the right to do so.
The unidentified man entered Evans pool in Seattle near Green
Lake last Monday, February 8, and began taking off his shirt in front of female
patrons.
When asked what he was doing, he said, "The law has changed
and I have a right to be here."
"Seeing this individual in the locker room, parents of swim
team members (girls) and women who had paid for lap swim became alarmed and
alerted our front desk staff," said Seattle Parks spokesman David Takami
in a statement. "In response, an Evans pool staff member entered the women's
locker room and asked the man to leave." They offered both the man and the
girls the opportunity to use a family changing room.
He left, only to return during a later youth lap swim, Takami
said.
Officials said he had made no attempt to present himself as a
woman, nor to identify as transgender when he checked in. By all appearances,
he was a man.
But appearances do not matter when it comes to "gender
identity." LGBT theorists hold that biological sex is distinct from
gender, which is determined solely by the person's mental self-identification.
Takami affirmed, "We have guidelines that allow transgender
individuals to use restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender
identity."
"We want everyone to feel comfortable in our
facilities," he said.
Some patrons feel the man, who has yet to be identified,
exploited the law to peep at women. "Either identify yourself as a
transgender or you're not, and you're just taking advantage of a
loophole," MaryAnne Sato, who visits the pool several times a week, told USA
Today.
A similar incident occurred in Olympia in 2012, when a
45-year-old biological male who calls himself Colleen Francis lounged naked in a women’s locker room, in an area
frequented by girls as young as six. According to the police report an eyewitness stated,
“There were girls 6 to 18 years of age and they were not used to seeing
individuals in situations like this.” But the facility gave him the right to
continue using its facilities as he wished.
Those who oppose adding gender identity to non-discrimination
ordinances and civil rights legislation have long warned the ordinances would
be used specifically for that purpose.
But LGBT political activists dismissed such concerns, calling
opponents' warnings that such a thing could occur overblown at best, entirely
fictitious at worst.
Houston Mayor Annelise Parker said that opponents of that city's
transgender ordinance waged a campaign of “fear mongering and deliberate
lies” when votersrepealed the so-called "HERO" ordinance in a
landslide.
Some in the city felt the action was intended to stoke those
unfounded fears. Gunner Scott, a transgender activist, told KIRO
radio host Jason Rantz he felt "concern" that "this was a setup
by opponents of LGBT equality to try to exploit the recent debate of basic
rights of transgender youth."
But Aldan Shank, who regularly attends the pool, said he thought
the man's actions were intended as statement in favor of transgender rights,
albeit one that "sort of works against the point they're trying to make.
They're causing people to feel exposed and vulnerable with the intention of
reducing people feeling exposed and vulnerable."
