Locker room policy at the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in Seattle, Washington, now allows self-identified “transgender” males to shower with 15-year-old girls. Controversy surrounding this decision has led many to question the organization and even cancel their memberships.
According to an inside source at the YMCA, the decision had been brewing ever since March of this year, when a “open door” policy for trans individuals was being discussed. In April 2015, the YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties established a “no questions asked” policy, allowing open access to locker rooms without stating genders.
Sources notified The Daily Wire that the YMCA executives in charge were aware of this and deliberately avoided disclosing the information to members for fear of backlash. After the YMCA Homeschool found out about the policy in September, Jill Wade, a mother in the group, went on the Todd Herman Show and expressed her concerns about allowing transgendered men in locker rooms with young girls.
While this decision had been lauded by trans activists and several LGBTQ community members, the policy was met with overwhelming backlash on social media from the public and organization members, who feared the obvious consequences of allowing self-assigned gendered people to shower together with others.
“We’re a Christian organization and people come to us specifically because they think we’re promoting family,” a concerned employee told The Daily Wire.
Autumn Bennett, a mother opposing the policy, expressed concerns that criminals will abuse the policy by posing as transgender to gain access.
“This, for me, has nothing to do with discrimination against any other sort of groups,” she told Fox Q13 News. “It has everything to do with the safety of children. If you can’t control who can go into the bathroom, then how can you know who’s safe?”
The YMCA called an emergency meeting aimed at convincing members who opposed the policy that they were legally required to accept it in order to be more inclusive. Three days after the meeting, YMCA Marketing vice president Michelle LaRue went on the Todd Herman Show and discussed a new policy that still left the adult YMCA locker rooms, which are intended for ages 15 and older, with the “open door” policy.
LaRue later declined an interview with the Todd Herman Show after it had allegedly promoted an interview with YMCA employees Bob Ecklund and Kaeley Triller Haver. She complained that allowing the aforementioned individuals- who do not unanimously support the “open door” locker room policy- to be interviewed, would restrict a “respectful, balanced, and objective conversation.”
She wrote the following statement, which was posted to Facebook:
Todd,
After seeing how your show is promoting the interview with Bob Ecklund and Kaeley Triller Haver, we do not feel this will be a respectful, balanced, and objective conversation. We rarely decline media interviews, as we trust the media will provide facts to the public so they can make an informed personal decision. We don’t believe this interview will accomplish that.
With respect to you and your work, we’ll have to decline an interview at this time.
You are welcome to use this statement with your viewers to explain the change in your show.
“According to people who went to a public meeting, they have denounced their former status as a Christian organization,” Herman commented on his post.
Last month, the organization teamed up with the Young Women’s Christian Association (YMCA) to push the gender-neutral bathroom policy to be passed with the local Human Rights Commission, aiming to ultimately force all businesses and churches to adopt the policy in their bathrooms. LGBTQ groups such as the Rainbow Center, the Oasis Youth Center, and liberal politicians Maria Cantwell, Patty Murray, Governor Jay Inslee, Derek Kilmer, and Danny Heck were all involved in a meeting to discuss the measure.
“The YMCA repeatedly lied and blurred the truth, stating that they were required to do this by law, citing RCW code that specifically only applies to the employer/employee accommodation that needs to be made for trans individuals,” a concerned mother told The Daily Wire, adding:
This policy put children and women at risk, as anyone would have access to even the locker rooms that children access. Anyone, as long as they “identify” (or as I like to say, pretend to be) as a member of the opposite sex can have access to any locker room that corresponds to their identified gender.
Source: DailyWire
Join the conversation!
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, vulgarity, profanity, all caps, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain a courteous and useful public environment where we can engage in reasonable discourse.