Saturday, August 6, 2022

KOMO News on Port Townsend YMCA Trans Woman Issue. "YMCA bans grandma after she demanded transgender staff member leave women's locker room"

 "PORT TOWNSEND, Wash (TND) — An 80-year-old woman in Washington State has reportedly been banned from her local YMCA after she demanded that a transgender staff member, who was overseeing a group of young girls during their bathroom time, be removed from the women's locker room.

Julie Jaman, a resident of Port Townsend, Washington for over 40 years, told the Port Townsend Free Press she was concerned the transgender staff member was watching little girls as they undressed. Jaman reportedly heard a "male voice" in the locker room after one of her routine swimming exercises at the facility on July 22, and upon investigating, she found the transgender staff member.

As Jaman explains it, the locker rooms feature communal showers that feature little privacy. Each shower stall only features a light curtain that, as the Port Townsend Free Press puts it, doesn't "provide much of a shield from the eyes of others." Jaman recalls hearing a man's voice while she was showering. She turned to see four little girls and a person she believed to be a man.

There were gaps in the curtain and there I was, naked, with soap and water on me, and this guy, right there very close to me. I asked, ‘Do you have a penis?’ He said, ‘That’s none of your business.’ That’s when I told him, ‘Get out of here, right now,'" Jaman recounts to the Port Townsend Free Press.

The YMCA’s aquatics manager then reportedly told Jaman that she was "discriminating," telling her "you can’t use the pool anymore and I’m calling the police.” Jaman recalled being stunned, not remembering if she even dried off, and says she attempted to leave. The aquatics manager was near the facility's entrance and again clashed with Jaman.

During the confrontation, another YMCA employee told Jaman she couldn't leave, according to the Free Press, adding the aquatics manager echoed the sentiment. Jaman then reportedly said to both employees she was going to contact the police, which she did, later filing a complaint.

In an obtained police report, Port Townsend Police Officer Marc Titterness said that Jaman "had an emotional response to a strange male being in the bathroom and helping a young girl take off her bathing suit." However, as the police investigated, it was revealed another person had called them about the incident, saying Jaman was refusing to leave the YMCA and also told them that "[the transgender staff member] was in the bathroom with a child in the day camp and Julie asked if she had a penis and started screaming at her to get out."

YMCA’s Marketing and Communications Manager, speaking with The Post Millennial, claims Jaman wasn't banned for this incident alone, but rather "repeatedly violating the Olympic Peninsula YMCA code of conduct, specifically, using disrespectful words or gestures towards YMCA staff or others; and abusive, harassing and/or obscene language or gestures towards YMCA staff or others."

Jaman reportedly has a list of previous offenses at that YMCA location, but this incident with the transgender staff member was "unforgivable and extremely harmful," according to the same communications manager.

Wendy Bart, the CEO of the Olympic Peninsula YMCA, shared additional details with the Free Press. Bart claims she stands behind her employees' actions in their confrontation with Jaman, and that the 80-year-old woman told the transgender staff member "you’re going to stick your f---ing penis in those little girls," a statement Jaman denies making.

"I am an 80-year-old woman and I do not talk like that." Jaman told the Substack page "The Distance."

The Free Beacon added that protestors gathered outside the YMCA after news of Jaman's ban broke. The YMCA also told the publication that many who gathered outside for the protests were in support of the ban."


Source of Article

https://komonews.com/news/local/ymca-bans-grandma-after-she-demanded-transgender-staff-member-leave-womens-locker-room-julie-jaman-port-townsend-washington?fbclid=IwAR15YYzmucP3ZSQgE3oTRVlP7Hlw0EwINIrbvUIA9ETvNj_7Z5xvXXn--XM