80-Year-Old Woman Banned From YMCA For Alerting Staff Of Man In Women's Locker Room
A longtime member of the Olympic Peninsula YMCA, in association with the City of Port Townsend, has been banned indefinitely by the facility after calling out a biological man peeping into the women's locker room, which the facility staff deemed "discriminatory" and issued a ban on the 80-year-old regular.
The elderly woman, Julie Jaman, arrived at the YMCA on July 26 like any average visit to enjoy the pool as an avid swimmer.
That day, Jaman spoke with the YMCA staff after "hearing a man's voice" coming from the women's locker room, also noting that young girls were present in the room as a man, seen wearing a "woman's bathing suit" entered.
Jaman was distressed that she had been banned from the YMCA she attended for nearly four decades — as relayed by MyNorthwest's Dori Monson — but was also disturbed by the facility's allowance for a man to enter the women's facilities, whom she detected while showering.
"I saw a man in a woman's bathing suit watching maybe four or five little girls pulling down their suits in order to use the toilet," Jaman shared. "I asked if he had a penis, and he said it was none of my business. I told that man to 'get out right now.'"
In speaking with Olympic Peninsula YMCA CEO Wendy Bart, Jaman was handed news of her official ban.
" didn't ask me what the problem was, if I was okay, nothing about me," Jaman added. "It's as if she was just waiting to pounce on me. It was just stunning.
"She told me that I was being discriminatory and not following the YMCA principles and values. I told her I respect all human beings, and I'm not following any ideology."
Jaman was ambivalent over the Pride-inspired signs around the facility but stated that the staff was responsible for warning its members of the seemingly open-door policy.
"That's fine with me, except that they do not provide alternatives for women who choose not to be undressing in front of men," Jaman expressed. "Our pool is a very old pool. We just have two shower rooms, dressing rooms, one for men, one for women."
Reports state that Jaman maintained a good reputation with the facility and her fellow members throughout her time at the Y. Jaman followed up by speaking with the Port Townshend City Council on Monday.
"In an effort by the city and the YMCA to apply the neo-cultural gender rules at Mountain View Pool dressing, shower room facilities, women and children are being put at risk," Jaman told the Council. She has also been seen picketing the YMCA for their move.
via Françoise Emma Roux
via Reduxx