The YMCA has a bad track record when it comes to protecting girls’ and women’s privacy and safety.
A woman in the city of Port Townsend in Washington was concerned when she saw a man wearing a swimsuit in the women’s locker room. Julie Jaman watched him watching two young girls.
The city, which barred Jaman from using the pool for complaining in 2025, settled her lawsuit for $65,000 — but still barred her from using the pool.
Now a 15-year-old girl in Ohio decided to speak up about her local YMCA in Louisville allowing an adult male employee to use a shower room reserved for girls. The man was reportedly lewd to the girls. The details are disgusting, and he should have been arrested.
The brave teenager wants lawmakers to do something to protect girls from this nonsense. Liberty Counsel (LC) wrote a letter to state officials on her behalf. From LC (emphasis added):
Even though there were other males in the lifeguard course and male facilities were available, the perpetrator chose to associate with and harass the underage girls in the minor girls’ locker room. The girl reported his actions to the YMCA staff, but she was told to use the handicap bathroom if she was uncomfortable. The YMCA staff then told the man he should use the over-18 women’s locker room facilities.
Title VII’s protections for girls and women apply to the YMCA, which receives federal funds in the form of grants.
“Ohio law does not prohibit sex-based distinctions nor does it prohibit public accommodation from providing separate bathroom, locker or shower accommodations for males and females,” reads the letter (PDF).
“In fact, Ohio has excepted “[t]ransvestism, transsexualism, pedophilia, exhibitionism, voyeurism, gender identity disorders not resulting from physical impairments, or other sexual behavior disorders” from protection. See O.R.C. § 4112.01(16)(b). Thus, Ohio law specifically allows public accommodations like YMCA and employers to protect girls and other females from sexually-charged conduct targeting them. But again, experience shows that the YMCA will not provide these protections, unless Ohio law requires that protection.”
Even the rare man who believes he was born in the wrong body does not have the right to violate the rights of girls and women. His feelings or perceptions of himself don’t trump the privacy and sense of safety of others.
