This mom just needs to get over it and “navigate using four core values of caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility”.
My Northwest.com: A policy instituted by the YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap counties has one mom worried about her children’s safety.
KTTH’s Todd Herman spoke with Jill, a mother and volunteer at YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties, about the policy enacted in April that gives transgender individuals the ability to choose the locker room he or she feels most comfortable with, no questions asked.
Jill said that her concerns are not an attack on transgender people, but more a criticism of the policy itself, which was never announced to the public or employees. She said the policy allows anybody to walk into either bathroom, which puts children at danger. “Anybody who might want to go in there, (employees) can’t ask them, they can’t tell them no,” she said. “So any man can say, hey, I’m transgender’ and go in that way.”
“The employees didn’t know about this,” she added. “The public doesn’t know about it. YMCA doesn’t plan to inform the membership or potential members.”
Herman also said he spoke with Michelle Larue, Senior Vice President of Marketing with the Pierce and Kitsap YMCA, who told him that the organization has spent a lot of time speaking with ways to better accommodate the transgender community. A public forum on the issue was held Sunday; an attendee told Herman that approximately 50 people showed up.
Herman said some parents are asking that a written notice be placed at the locker room that informs people that they might encounter people of the opposite gender in the bathroom. He said the YMCA’s response has only been that the organization is committed to inclusion and diversity.
Jill believes the new policy also contradicts portions of the YMCA’s child abuse prevention training, most notably that abuse is more likely to happen if somebody who wants to do harm to children is given access and privacy, and that anywhere a child is scantily clothed or naked — e.g. pool or locker room facilities — the chance of sexual abuse increases. She added that it’s not only children who might feel uncomfortable.
“You cannot blend in when you are not anatomically correct in the opposite sex locker room,” she said. “This is not possible … Do you want an anatomically correct man showering with your wife or daughter? Or how about an anatomically correct female showering with your teenage son?”
“In my opinion, seeing a naked man in my locker room is sexual harassment for me,” she said. “That’s the way I feel about it. This isn’t specifically singling out transgenders, it’s singling out the policy that would allow anybody who wants to abuse it to be in there.”
Michelle Douglas, Executive Director at the Rainbow Center, an LGBTQA community center in Tacoma, said she hadn’t seen the YMCA’s policy and wouldn’t speculate on its implications. She said the Rainbow Center is unequivocal about its stance that people should be free to use the restroom or locker room that they identify with. She said Washington State nondiscrimination laws are not new and that some organizations have moved faster to make updates than others. She said the Rainbow Center still hears a lot of “misguided concerns” about this topic.
“People have lost sight of why they go to the restroom or locker room in the first place, which is to go to the restroom or to change and get ready for work,” she said. “I think there is a lot of fear mongering around these pieces and I just don’t feel that it’s accurate.”
Larue told Herman that people who feel uncomfortable with the change can use one of the YMCA’s private rooms. Herman asked whether fairness is truly being spread around to everyone and that there should be better communication.
The YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties, whose mission is “To put Christian principles into practice through programs that build a healthy spirit, mind and body for all”, issued this statement:
YMCA President and CEO Bob Ecklund
“The Y’s mission is to serve everyone, regardless of financial circumstance, faith, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender identity. As our community changes, we often find ourselves in the unfamiliar, but remain committed to creating a culture focused on safety and inclusivity.
Transgender members in transition will use private locker rooms for dressing and showering (at family facilities). Transgender members may use standalone restrooms that align with their gender identification. Transgender members may use locker rooms and restrooms that align with their gender identification (at adult facilities).
The growing diversity of the U.S. population makes inclusion by and within YMCAs increasingly important. While diversity enriches and improves us, it sometimes includes the unfamiliar, which we will navigate using our four core values of caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility. We hope our staff, members, volunteers, and community will navigate this way with us as well.”
Read the full statement here.
DCG
