PORT TOWNSEND, WA – An elderly woman in Washington state has been permanently barred from attending the public pool she has belonged to for the past 35 years after taking exception to the presence of a transgender woman – a biological male who identifies as female – in the locker room.
Port Townsend resident Julie Jaman, 80, said that she was shocked on July 26 when she saw what she believed to be a male in the women’s locker room at the city’s Mountain View pool, which is operated by the Olympic Peninsula YMCA.
Jaman claimed that the male – actually a trans employee at the pool – had a “man’s voice” and was peeping at children as they were using the restroom facilities; she said that she then confronted the individual and told them to leave.
“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,” she said. “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.’”
Jaman then said that, upon complaining to a female staffer at the pool, she was told that she was “being discriminatory” and that she was summarily “banned from the pool forever.” Jaman also alleged that she was told that the authorities would be called on her, although there is no record of any police report in connection with the incident.
“She didn’t ask me what the problem was, if I was okay, nothing about me,” Jaman said. “It’s as if she was just waiting to pounce on me. It was just stunning.”
The Port Townsend Police Department confirmed that there was no official criminal report made, but they did share an incident report that was recorded on the matter, which said that Jaman “had an emotional response to a strange male being in the bathroom” near children, and that she was worried about being banned from the pool.
Representatives for the Olympic Peninsula YMCA claimed that Jaman has repeatedly violated the pool’s code of conduct – alleging that she had been repeatedly “abusive” to staff – and that her banning was not solely connected to this incident.
Jaman, on the other hand, claimed that she had “a great relationship with swimmers in the pool,” which she has been a member of for 35 of the 40 years she has lived in the area.
Since being banned from the pool, Jaman and supporters held a protest outside of the facility, while trans activists held a counter-protest.
or a specific category with our 