A Port Angeles man claims he and his wife were banned from the Port Angeles YMCA because he objected to the sharing of child porn in the weight room and young men sexually harassing women and girls. He offered to pay to upgrade the Y’s security system so they could capture the conduct and was ridiculed by staff.
On the day the youths made sexually vulgar humping actions behind his pregnant wife, threatened to kill his newborn baby and vandalize his car, he was banished from the Y. His wife was also banished. They say the Y has never explained to them what it is they did to have their memberships cancelled.
Olympic Peninsula YMCA manages and owns the Port Angeles YMCA. It also manages Port Townsend’s municipal Mountain View pool where Julie Jaman, who had been swimming there for 35 years, was banished for objecting to a male Y employee in the women’s shower area.
A Life with the YMCA, Until He Saw Something, Said Something
Tyler Abbott grew up in YMCAs. His mother worked in the Rockwall, Texas YMCA for 25 years. For his Boy Scout Eagle project he raised money for the Rockwall YMCA and repaired its sign with donated local pottery. He trained young men at the Port Angeles Y in weightlifting. He worked with obese boys to help them gain control over their weight, and mentored and trained with a Senegalese immigrant. “I probably spent more time training kids than I did on my own workouts,” he told the Port Townsend Free Press.
Olympic Peninsula YMCA CEO Wendy Bart
As he traveled the nation while serving in the Coast Guard, he raised thousands of dollars for the Y’s he came to know. A family friend donated a million dollars to a YMCA after experiencing the Y through his mother’s good works. And she was not alone. “Not only is my family deeply involved in the YMCA, but our impact on other YMCA members inspired millions of dollars in donations to the YMCA family.” He wrote that to Olympic Peninsula YMCA CEO Wendy Bart while reporting to her the sexual misconduct he had witnessed in the Port Angeles Y and his expulsion by a staff person for objecting to it.
What did he see and hear?
For months, he told Bart, he had been complaining to staff about “vile, disgusting, and sexually deviant behavior of some of your members at the YMCA, particularly towards my wife, other women, and especially underage girls.” The behavior involved a group of teenage boys leering and creeping on women and girls by taking advantage of their vulnerability while they were lifting weights.
When a women or girl had a barbell on their shoulders, which would push their chest forward, the teenagers would come close and peer down their clothing at their breasts. When they were performing deadlifts, in which the legs are straight or slightly bent and the women grasp a bar on the floor, the boys would circle behind them and stare at their backside and gesture. Similar conduct occurred when women were laying on a weight bench doing chest presses or flyes.
Dumb bell flyes
Abbott said the young men would use their phones to take video recordings of the women. He said he had seen young girls stop their workouts and leave because of the boys’ conduct.
On the day of his family’s termination, Abbott informed Bart:
[T]here were three high school/middle school age kids in the YMCA weight room. All of them have been kicked out of the YMCA before for their behavior toward other members, such as telling a member yesterday to “mind their Fing business” when somebody called out their vile behavior. These young people were showing nude images of underage girls in the stretching section of the weight room… Last week they were on the bench press talking about doing drugs, graphically sexual conversations about girls at their school and constantly swearing loudly. I asked them to stop and please read the rules that were posted by the door. They swore at me and said “okay, dad.” I did nothing and finished my work out.
He further informed Bart:
[T]he same youth were behaving the exact same way, this time made crude sexual gestures behind my 6 months pregnant wife, doing humping motions, making faces resembling some form of oral sex. Despite this disgusting behavior, I cordially and respectfully requested that they stop immediately or I would get staff members to intervene…. The youth began attempting to antagonize, instigate and agitate me, to which I responded, “Do your parents know you behave like this at the YMCA? This is a family YMCA, with kids and women present. How can you think it’s okay to talk that way?” Staff then came to intervene, and while they did this the young men began calling my wife ugly to her face. They said “wait till we catch your kid outside her womb,” and that they were “going to find my car in the parking lot.” The young man who is the leader of this group…also made racially disparaging remarks…saying “f-ing white people” and said the N word multiple times.”
On the occasions when Abbott reported the alleged misconduct to Y staff, they rejected his claims, saying that their security cameras could not catch the reported activity. Abbott offered to raise money so they Y could upgrade their security system. He says staff mocked him, even though he and his family have a history of raising considerable sums for YMCAs. He wrote to CEO Bart:
Your staff is oblivious to this [sexual misconduct] because during their shifts they’re busy on their cell phones, spraying the same machine 10 times in a row, or sitting in their office on their computer.
Abbott says that after “this traumatic ordeal,” Y staff members proceeded to “publicly shame, humiliate and embarrass” him and his pregnant wife in front of other members. He was told their memberships were terminated because he was “threatening.” When he asked the staff person delivering the news to tell him what he had done or said that was “threatening,” Abbott wrote to Bart, “she couldn’t define or describe any threatening behavior that I ever exhibited. I requested a simple example, to which she couldn’t come up with one.”
Why Mrs. Abbott’s membership was terminated has never been explained.
In his letter to Bart, Abbott provided the name and phone number of a witness, Tanner Boggs, then a Port Angeles city employee and Afghan war veteran, and offered to provide affidavits from others to corroborate his statements. I was able to communicate with Boggs, who now lives in Hawaii.
“I can say,” Boggs wrote in a text message, “that Tyler was very respectful handling the situation and is always respectful to others, especially teens. I’ve seen him on numerous occasions helping others in the gym.”
Teens causing problems, Boggs wrote, “had been using the club for an after school hangout. These teens were seen looking through other people’s backpacks, using obscene language and conducting themselves in a manner that was not conducive to working out and disrespectful to other persons at the gym. Lack of gym supervision and training with the staff made the situation uncomfortable and Tyler took it upon himself to confront the teens in a respectful manner. The two teens responded with hostility and Tyler remained calm and continued to ask them to be courteous and respectful.”
It took fifteen minutes, Boggs wrote, for Y staff to appear and address the situation. They banned Abbott and his wife from the Y and cancelled their memberships.
Bart replied to Abbott’s letter:
“Thank you so much for reaching out… I was not aware of any concerns of this nature.” She said she would be looking into the incident, and added, “On a completely separate note, thank you for all your service to the Y.”
Bart never contacted any of the witnesses Abbott said would corroborate his account of events.
The Y Dissembles
At the same time he contacted Bart, Abbott filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, which does not really deal with situations like this. Nonetheless, the BBB file contains Bart’s only written response to Abbott’s complaints about sexual misconduct at the Port Angeles Y and the cancellation of his family’s membership.
Abbott repeated in his BBB correspondence the allegations described above. Throughout the back and forth, Bart never stated what YMCA rule or code of conduct Abbott violated to earn the punishment of cancellations of his membership, and that of his wife. At most, it was a concern that Abbott was “policing” the weight room by reporting misconduct and asking the young men to read the rules and behave. There was no allegation by Bart that Abbott had ever raised his voice, used profanity, or threatened anyone. Bart, notably, did not dispute any of Tyler’s asserted facts about what happened.
I wrote Bart to ask her what the specific grounds were for expelling Abbott and his wife, since her responses to Abbott’s BBB complaint had not answered that question. She replied, “It is our policy not to disclose member privacy information.” Apparently, that also applies to withholding from Mr. and Mrs. Abbott the reasons that ended a lifetime relationship with the YMCA.
As for the youths in question, Bart told the BBB that the Y had taken some unspecified action. She did not state that their memberships had been canceled. But she did let the BBB know that the Y was refunding the unused balance of dues paid by the Abbotts, thus finalizing cancellation of their memberships.
The YMCA Retaliates
The YMCA then went after Abbott’s career with the U.S. Coast Guard. Abbott believes it was the same staff person who humiliated him and his wife who contacted a Chief Warrant Officer who, in turn, passed along complaints about Abbott’s behavior toward YMCA members “and how he is constantly submitting negative reviews in Yelp and Facebook.” Abbott does not hesitate to confirm that he and his wife have posted negative reviews to let others know what they experienced at the Port Angeles YMCA.
Abbott’s superiors made inquiries and cleared Abbott. Abbott was so concerned that he retained an attorney who, Abbott says, would have sued the YMCA if he had suffered any adverse consequences of what Abbott calls “defamation of my character” by Port Angeles YMCA staff.
Parallels with Julie Jaman’s Experience at Mountain View Pool
Just as Abbott’s requests for an explanation of precisely what it was that ended his lifetime relationship with the YMCA went unanswered, so, too, have Julie Jaman’s requests been met with silence. Jaman, as we have reported, was banished on the spot by a YMCA staff person for objecting to the unexpected presence of an adult male in her shower area, while she was naked and without consent.
Later, the YMCA told media, before telling Jaman, that she had been banned for “a pattern of disrespectful behavior.” This “pattern” was, they claimed, “documented.”
That allegation was repeated in the City of Port Townsend’s Q&A on the controversy. Jaman’s public records request to the city manager for those documents came up empty. The city manager told her to go the Y, where he said he had seen unidentified documents.
Jaman has repeatedly requested that Bart provide her with those documents, if they exist. She insists that she had never once been notified of any infraction in her 35 years of using the pool.
Jaman’s lawyers and the Free Press have also requested from Bart the documents that supposedly explain this “pattern of disrespectful behavior.”
Bart has not responded to those requests. On August 25th Bart sent Jaman written notice that she will be charged with trespassing if she sets foot in any facility managed by Olympic Peninsula YMCA. That letter was sent after this story became a huge national and international controversy unflattering to the Y.
Is the YMCA No Longer a Safe Place?
What’s happened to the YMCA? From an institution once dedicated to families and character development — “a refuge from the hazards of the streets” — it has descended to being focused heavily on sex and the setting for a growing number of problems and conflicts. For instance, the Mountain View pool is decorated extensively with Pride flags and placards — well after Pride Month has come and gone. There’s no way to avoid messages focused on particular kinds of sexuality, even before one gets to the door.
It appears that one slice of society is being favored and promoted above all others. Recently, the entire pool and the locker rooms were taken over by the Transgender Support group of Jefferson County and Olympic Pride for a “Queer/Trans Pool Party” with invitation extended to “all ages.”
Clem Adams, the adult male in the women’s bathing suit whom Julie Jaman encountered while she was showering, was a Y employee sent into the women’s locker room to oversee little girls peeling off their swimsuits so they could use the toilets. Adams is 19 years old with a Facebook page profile (until we wrote about it) stating he is heterosexual (“interested in women”). He was alone, no other Y employee in sight, when Jaman was confronted with him at her shower curtain.
That is a violation of the Y’s policy of having two adult employees with children at all times while they are in the locker room.
Now we learn of a man expelled from the Port Angeles Y and the punishment upheld by the same CEO because he objected to child porn being shared inside the Y and the sexual misconduct against women and girls by crude, arrogant young men. His wife, against whom nothing has ever been said by the Y, was apparently innocent collateral damage. Then the Y retaliated against Abbott for educating others on what they might encounter were they to patronize the Port Angeles Y.
Kaeley Triller Harms in 2015 was communications director for the Kitsap County YMCA. Y management instructed her to draft a policy permitting biological males to use women’s locker rooms, showers and bathrooms. She was told that it was for staff purposes and members would not be informed. When she insisted members should be notified of what they may encounter in previously women-only facilities, she was harassed and eventually fired.
Harms had survived prolonged sexual abuse that started when she was in diapers. Her abuser liked to watch her shower. She well understood the consequences of this policy change for women and girls. However, the change in policy took place without corresponding signage. A year later Washington state enacted its open access law that permits biological men to use women’s facilities.
Since the Y’s attempt to silence her, Harms has become a nationally known advocate for women’s rights and founded Hands Across the Aisle, a coalition of progressive and conservative women, lesbians and evangelical Christians, Democrats and Republicans “who have come together to challenge the ideology of gender.”
Kitsap County YMCAs, Harms told the Free Press, had wide open communal showering areas, with no possibility of privacy for women from biological males who could be showering with them. The Mountain View pool’s women’s showers are modified communal areas with colorful, but inadequate provisions for privacy. Jaman says the curtains billow and move when showers are in use, exposing the user to view. There also appears to be no way a woman using the shower can cover herself when she steps out as there are no hooks for hanging towels or robes within reach.
Mountain View showers. Photo from FB page of Beau Ohlgren of Transgender Support of Jefferson County
Jaman also complains that there was no notice that women could encounter a man in their showers. CEO Bart has replied that the omnipresence of Pride regalia was warning enough.
The Mountain View pool, as we’ve written previously, is no longer a place where many women and girls can feel safe, especially survivors of sexual trauma. The Port Angeles Y now seems like another place where women and girls cannot feel safe.
YMCA Sexual Assaults Nationwide
Across the nation, more and more YMCAs are being revealed as unsafe, with increasing incidents of sexual violence or abuse, sometimes leading to murder.
“A string of sexual assaults on women and children have been reported at YMCAs across the country in just the past few years,” reports The Epoch Times, “dozens more spanning the last two decades.” Cases they cite include:
- In 1968, a man in the women’s bathroom abducted 10-year-old Pamela Powers from the Des Moines, Iowa YMCA. She was sexually assaulted and murdered. See 2014 story by The Des Moines Register.
- In 2019, a male YMCA employee (who had undergone the Y’s vaunted background checks) was convicted of raping a 3-year old and 4-year old at the Wichita, Kansas YMCA.
- Last year, a 19-year-old man was arrested after attacking a woman in the women’s locker room at the East Nashville YMCA. A few months later, another man was arrested after he was found showering in the women’s locker room and peeking under stalls.
- A 19-year-old male employee (who had undergone the Y’s background checks) was convicted in 2019 of second-degree sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl who had been under his supervision in a camp class at the Fulton County, New York YMCA.
- Several YMCAs have been hit with multi-million dollar legal settlements or judgments as the result of sexual assaults against women and girls, and also boys, in their facilities. The Rochester, Minnesota YMCA is currently the subject of a lawsuit by two young women who were sexually assaulted by a 15-year-old male in 2018. He pled guilty to first-degree sexual assault.
A brief search turns up even more incidents of sexual violence and abuse at YMCAs:
- On June 23, 2022, a registered sex offender managed to get into the pool at the Grants Pass, Oregon YMCA and was arrested for physical contact with a 6-year-old girl.
- Just last week, a 24-year-old employee of the Ridgewood YMCA Camp in Pennsylvania was arrested for sexual contact with three girls, all under age 13.
- A class-action lawsuit was filed in 2012 by a man and his wife alleging that YMCAs that advertise themselves as safe and appropriate places for families are actually “brothels” where homosexual men accost and assault men as they “cruise” for sexual relationships.
- In April 2022 a Palm Harbor, Florida couple sued the local YMCA for the sexual assault of their 3-year-old daughter in an area that was supposed to have been under the watchful eye of YMCA staff. This was the second sexual assault in the same YMCA by the same two boys. The YMCA staff person who should have been safeguarding the little girl reportedly told the parents, “What’s the big deal? They [the boys] just wanted to look.”
The culture in YMCAs across the country has shifted dramatically from what previous generations knew. What was, up until recently, considered inconceivable conduct has now been normalized. With that normalization has come the risk of predation and sexual assault of women and children.
———————————–
Tyler Abbott’s wife went into labor just as we were publishing this article. We had requested a photo of him to accompany the story and are pleased to present him here with new baby Liam.
[Mr. Abbott wishes to state that at all times in all matters related to this story he was acting solely as an individual citizen and not in any capacity related to his service with the U.S. Coast Guard.]
Jim Scarantino was the editor and founder of Port Townsend Free Press. He is happy in his new role as just a contributor writing on topics of concern to him. He spent the first 25 years of his professional life as a trial attorney, then launched an online investigative news website that broke several national stories. He is also the author of three crime novels. He resides in Jefferson County. See our "About" page for more information.
RebelNews’ reporter, Katie Daviscourt, broke a major follow-up story today about Julie Jaman’s treatment at the Mountain View Y pool. The 14+ minute report includes interviews with Julie, women’s rights advocate Amy Sousa and a Port Townsend resident who takes quite a different view of the discriminatory treatment meted out to this 35-year patron of the pool. There is also an embedded petition, which had over 5,000 signatures at time of publication of this article.
I stand with Julie…
Has anyone thought to look into funding via grants & donations? Over $345,000 in grant funding + donations for FY 2019 (the most recent I could find).
Anyone have a guidestar or foundationcenter account to see who Clallam County YMCA is receiving funding from in 2021/22?
EIN: 91-0652924
Reply to bigmouth about funding:
Possible missing info about donor intentions. From audit:
“• Net asset tracking – Contributions with donor restrictions are not tracked in a consistent manner. Management should not rely on personal knowledge that the restrictions are being adequately met. ”
projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_audit/25362020211
MJ Heins, thank you for that link. Your quote seems to be re: internal record keeping of compliance with donor restrictions (i.e. compliance with stated goals for grant monies, purchase of certain items as specified by donors)?
Unfortunately, overall, this is probably a research dead-end. Effective May 28, 2020, the IRS changed its regulations for 501(a) non profits (like YMCA). They are no longer required to report donor names and addresses on the tax returns, per [TD 9898].
I’m still checking if tax records at the WA state level reflect a list of donors.
Reply to Bigmouth: The identity of specific donors is not important. The lack of transparency surrounding the purposes of restricted donations is a potential problem. For example, an organization would probably be issuing a news release to announce an anonymous restricted donation to improve handicap access to the pool. Are there donations for purposes an organization would hesitate to share with the public?
Oh, hm, the County Commishs gave a wagonload of cash to these people:
https://usawaconsulting.com/
wouldnt be suprised to hear usawa or some entity like it, then turns around and donates to “trans is ADA” type “consulting” for the Y. Anyway, thats the sort of thing thats been going on with PT Mainstreet/Land Trust/Historical Society BS.
Bigmouth, we welcome and desperately need people with the time and energy to do the sort of research you’ve clearly begun and are recommending here. We offer you a platform to reveal what you learn in a format that our readers will be interested to read and hopefully absorb. We’ll help on the editorial side in any way we can. We’ll be standing by, reach out any time…
Thank you to everyone who is fighting for equality for everyone. Not a day goes by where I don’t miss the community, friendships, and young people I mentored at the YMCA. Many of the young adults i mentored, and helped get into shape are heading off to boot camp to serve in our nations armed forces in the coming months. For clarification, the immigrant I trained name is Pap’, I helped him put on over 15lbs of muscle mass, and taught him how to safely lift weights. I consider myself one of his first friends when he arrived in our country. I mentored 2 young men AJ and Riley, who were struggling with being over weight, and I helped them overcome their insecurities, and become proud of themselves, confident, and strong. There were Port Angeles high school tennis players who I helped with agility training. Football players who I helped with powerlifting. And young men who had family issues that were on their way to the University of Washington this fall, that asked for my help with college (I am a proud Husky myself). I volunteered hundreds of hours helping people at the YMCA and only wanted it to be a safe place for everyone, especially my pregnant wife. I also must stress this point as well, there are wonderful YMCA employees that are in no way a reflection of what I experienced with Cyndie Wright or Wendy Bart. Some of them are some of the kindest people I have ever met, it just seems management/upper management doesn’t care about valuing members who contribute so much to the YMCA community, but rather protecting those that break their rules, that they arbitrarily enforce.
Tyler, Semper Paratus, mate. You rock. Congrats on your beautiful baby.
We’re definitely fighting alongside you to stop Wendy Bart’s efforts to make the YMCA an unsafe place. People like her and Cyndie Wright have inverted moral order, from community and respect to one of virtue signaling and nebulous self-righteousness.
If you decide to sue Wendy, or the Olympic YMCA, I would happily contribute to the fund, so let us know through this blog. She isn’t indemnified by the nonprofit, as she’s personally liable for subjective and capricious policy enactment that was not chartered by the board. She is on her own legally, and if her home is taken in civil damages it can be used as a support shelter for disadvantaged youth in Kitsap. I don’t think she’s pondered how much damage civil litigation and the process of discovery can do (even if she prevails in a case) to a person who has committed the violations she has in the past year.
Thank you Howie C for the support. We have retained legal counsel, and are exploring all legal actions against the Clallam county YMCA, and specific employees. I will update you all on their discoveries, and potential actions as it unfolds. If there was a civil suit that resulted in monetary compensation being paid out to us, the victims, we would donate 100% of the proceeds to organizations that protect women against sexual/domestic violence and not keep a dime.
Thank you Jim and the PTFP for bringing out the truth about the rot in our once-trusted institutions and facilities. I am shocked and sorry to hear of the even-wider reach of what has been going on in facilities that in the past have had the mission of helping young, old and in-between, become and stay fit, and participate in classes and activities that have been so beneficial, in safe environments. Not to mention the horror of the abusive response by the city council and callous others. It’s been a surreal time for us all, and especially those demonized and harmed by the actions of those perpetuating their hateful and harmful agenda. May these revelations bring about healing as we confront those responsible, in order to restore what was lost. If that’s possible. Thank you, Julie Jaman and Tyler Abbott for bringing their stories to the PtFP and the wider public to hopefully bring awareness and change.
The Pamela Powers incident, while otherwise accurate, occurred in 1968, not 2014.
(Source: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/life/2014/12/18/pamela-powers-kidnapped-urbandale-girl-murder-tragedy-christmas-eve/20566385/ third paragraph.
Thanks. The Epoch Times used the date of the Des Moines Register story and we’ve corrected the date per your tip.
As an aside, it has been bitterly ironic to see law enforcement appear about every 300 ft along the roadway with people pulled over during the THING festival. I thought we had no police force? I thought our police had no funding? I thought they didn’t have enough cars? I thought they didn’t have enough personnel? But somehow magically on one weekend a whole gaggle of them appeared!
It seems there is no real way to protect our women and children anymore, at least not in this state and with these circumstances. They will accomplish the goal of making the average person and family stay at home and out of their way as they destroy every institution known to civilized man for generations. There used to be both YMCA and YWCA facilities, but with these new state ruled “sharings”, even those would be at risk. It appears we have a choice: find safer places to work out and swim or leave this state completely and kick the dust off our shoes on the way out. Port Townsend will eventually suffer losses in their coveted tourism trade. There is no way I would ever step foot in that town again. Their city officials have made it abundantly clear that they want nothing to do with the average human being who remembers what mutual respect and acceptance can mean without throwing out every moral value we’ve ever known. There will be a reckoning one day, and it won’t be pretty or covered with rainbows.
Just WOW! Young Men’s CHRISTIAN Association seems anything but. More like an aggressive queer organization.
Maybe we can get it shut down, then collectively buy it and turn it into a supervised co-op where none of these things will be tolerated. I don’t use their corrupt facility, but would contribute toward the community buying it to get rid of these problematic miscreants.
Yes, shut both down P.T and P.A.
Those of us who participate in and have dedicated our lives to adherence to our chosen and birth religion… what is our recourse to the need for prescribed modesty in the presence of a person of the opposite sex, regardless of their stated gender? We happen to be Muslim, but do not Jewish, Christian and other women share the same needs?
If a Satanist states she or he requires same-sex accomodations, where would they turn? Why do only “trans identified” people have recourse to elected and appointed officials in a town which claims to welcome refugees and stand against “Muslim bans”? It is definitely against the beliefs of the religion of most Muslim refugees, to force women to disrobe in the presence of a person of the opposite sex. Yet we are now told we are NOT welcome in PT and will be MUSLIM BANNED from the YMCA if we request modesty and privacy as prescribed by our religion.
Is there a constitutional rights attorney who could help arrange a class-action lawsuit on grounds of the Y restricting freedom to adhere to the tenets of our religions? They say in their own bylaws they are to provide accomodation in such cases. Why are accomodations not being offered???
How dare they say refugees are welcome here, and that they are against Muslim bans, and then attack and harrass sincere human beings wishing to join and participate in American society and simply live our religions in dignity and peace. We stand with Julie and all women who are struggling to retain same-sex facilities for purposes of religious adherence and personal safety.
RAR, thank you for sharing this important perspective. Would you please Contact Us at the link in the top bar?
Decisions at the state level impact Washington’s residents.
World Population Review has the state’s 2022 transgender population at 32,850 people or less than one-half of 1% of the state population.
Approximately one-half of Washington’s 7,900,000 residents are male and female with 120 females for each transgender resident.
In Washington State, sex and sexual orientation are civil rights. https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=49.60.030
“Sex” means gender and “‘Sexual orientation’ means heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, and gender expression or identity. As used in this definition, “gender expression or identity” means having or being perceived as having a gender identity, self-image, appearance, behavior, or expression, whether or not that gender identity, self-image, appearance, behavior, or expression is different from that traditionally associated with the sex assigned to that person at birth.” https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=49.60.040
Regarding use of gender-segregated facilities, “…where undressing in the presence of others occurs, covered entities shall allow access to and use of a facility consistent with that individual’s gender expression or gender identity. Cannot require use inconsistent with gender expression or gender identity….If another person expresses concern or discomfort about a person who uses a facility that is consistent with the person’s gender expression or gender identity, the person expressing discomfort should be directed to a separate or gender-neutral facility, if available…Whenever feasible, covered entities are encouraged to provide options for privacy, such as single-use gender-neutral bathrooms or private changing areas….” https://app.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=162-32-060
Would Port Townsend YMCA provide “single-use gender-neutral bathrooms or private changing areas?”
Turn to Olympia to modify definitions of “sex,” “gender expression or identity,” to require signage regarding WAC 162-32-060 at gender-segregated facilities, to require sex reassignment surgery for individuals using such facilities for the sex that they were not assigned at birth.
Unanswered transparency and intercommunications questions abound regarding Port Townsend’s City Council, YMCA and Chief of Police pertaining to a recent YMCA incident involving Julie Jaman and Clem Adams and a related August 15 press conference.
Short of misconduct or resolution of differences, exercise of judgment by public officials and those whom city governments appoint, are handled at the ballot box. David Faber and Libby Urner Wennstrom were put in office by voters of the city of Port Townsend.
According to the Washington Secretary of State city voter registration demographics, Port Townsend has 8,244 registered voters: 4,476 female, 3,683 male, 85 other. 54% female, 45% male, 1% other.
Last year, the U.S. Census estimated Port Townsend’s population to be 10,306. Approximately 80% of Port Townsend residents are registered voters. Engage in respectful conversations with city residents regarding civil rights and public official management of controversial issues.
David Faber is one of four city council members whose term ends in December 2023. Identify and support city council candidates who have the character and skills to uphold public trust and fairness while working for ongoing public discourse, understanding and compromise on difficult subjects. Similarly challenge Libby Urner Wennstrom whose term ends in December 2025.
There may be significant issues with YMCAs that merit ongoing investigation, reporting and a push for policy changes.
Nice research, Judith Caruso. I double checked the legal definition of sex as pertaining to RCW 49.60.040 to verify, but you are indeed correct. “Sex equals gender” is the definition given. Mind. Blown.
My last gender studies class was 20 years ago, but we were taught that sex was biological, and that gender was the social constructs (stereotypes) associated with each of the biological sexes.
I just cannot wrap my mind around how the RCW can equate the two. It’s as if they’re trying to remove the validity of biological sex all together. There’s no context for “gender” if you eliminate the concept of biological sex. …I guess I’m no good at circular logic.
But, what we can conclude is that biological, sex-based rights have been eliminated from this section of the RCW.
Democrats encouraging anyone who disagrees with them to leave… interesting optics from the “unity” party who dressed in pinkpussyhats to protest a president who was legally elected by their fellow Americans.
This is the same mentality being exhibited by members of the PT City Council.
These are also the verysame sort of people who were threatening to LEAVE in 2016. So much for love of democracy and country.
It’s almost as if they lack the spines to endure rational and logical disagreement. It’s almost as if they’re throwing toddler tantrums, constantly.
https://nypost.com/2022/08/25/kathy-hochuls-call-for-5-4m-republicans-to-leave-new-york-is-dangerous/
Hurling slurs and making threats… that’s the Democrats.
I’m embarrassed I ever fell for such chicanery.
I’m angry reading this. The current state of the Young Men’s Christian Association reminds me of this quote about the way marxist-leaning people operate:
1. Identify a respected institution.
2. kill it.
3. gut it.
4. wear its carcass as a skin suit, while demanding respect.” (David Burge – @iowahawkblog)
Think of how many churches are sporting the rainbow flags, especially the new version penetrated by the Trans-tip. Think of YMCA, where you will never find a cross or a Bible verse, but plenty of the latest woke platitudes.
Almost every college and hospital began as a respected institution, usually with a board full of religious folks. Look at them now, after the hard work of the Beginning, the initial phases, the getting through the broken soil to plant a solid foundation– after all of this is done, the ones who fear work and fear freedom come in to impose their little diktats of inverted morality.
Wendy Bart needs to be sued. She comes across as a very ill-intentioned person with vindictive instincts, but that’s not as relevant as the basic principle of civil rights to public access to a public facility. The YMCA only MANAGES the pool, they don’t own it– it’s a public property. Every taxpayer has a right to it, unless they broke a LAW, not a corporate POLICY created by some bureaucrat in a cozy Kitsap office.
This is also why corporations+state power are bad when it comes to enforcing a rigid belief system through authoritarian means.
Look up the definition of Fascism. The people who call other people fascists excel at living out fascist principles.
On September 1, 2022 Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press, reported
sexual assaults across the U.S. military jumped by 13 percent last year…Mirroring the increase in those reports is the disclosure that close to 36,000 service members said in a confidential survey that they had experienced unwanted sexual contact — a dramatic increase over the roughly 20,000 who said that in a similar 2018 survey.
The increase is largely fueled by a nearly 26 percent jump in reports involving Army soldiers.
Although the article suggest the increase is the result of the pandemic, perhaps the fact that on October 1, 2016 the department of defense first introduced policies aimed at integration of openly transgender individuals into the service and there has been confusion and policy changes ever since:
Transgender Service Member Policy Implementation Fact Sheet
https://dod.defense.gov/Portals/1/features/2016/0616_policy/Transgender-Implementation-Fact-Sheet.pdf
With a change in administration came a change in transgender policy on April 12, 2019 with an effort to respond to lawsuits by female soldiers who filed an equal opportunity complaint charging that the presence of the transwoman in the shower violated their privacy rights. The transgender woman followed with a suit of her own who claiming her command was not supportive of her rights.
https://www.justsecurity.org/63594/how-the-pentagon-made-transgender-rights-disappear/
This article puts forth some impressive reasoning about gender and sex and privacy that might have provided some reasonable solutions.
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However, in July 2022 the current administration ordered another revision as discovered and derided by Breitbart [get past who published this – strange bedfellows and all that]:
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/07/07/exclusive-army-training-says-soldiers-must-shower-transgender-persons-opposite-sex/
The article shows a number of training slides and information that tells soldiers that they should be “respectful of the privacy and modesty concerns of others,” but that “transgender Soldiers are not required or expected to modify or adjust their behavior based on the fact that they do not ‘match’ other Soldiers.”
The training slides warn soldiers that violations of Equal Opportunity (EO) policies may result in disciplinary actions under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and that EO policies “apply to working, living, and recreational environment (on and off-post, during duty and non-duty hours).”
Anything in these policies that might cause unwanted sexual contact or assault? Do ya think?
I have to say there’s a lot of interesting dialogue backed by an impressive amount of research in the comment threads of the past few articles. I think it’s reflective of the depth that this issue dredges in our world views. It’s definitely given me a lot to think about.
Thank you, Ben. I was hoping that decision makers like yourself would look into this information. I know the council members don’t get paid enough for it to be a full time job with paid time to do the research. I am retired now and have the time and the skill to do this kind of research.
Given that today (saturday) there’s another planned rally at Pope Marine Park, which has attracted the attention of “the authorities”, including possibly the FBI — this article has timely local relevance & import.
Folks need be fully aware of the shenanigans, and not just here in PT. We can be sure that the violence at julie & friends’ press conference was organized & paid for by deep state agencies.
The deep state “security” state has been in place for decades. It comprises massive unelected bureaucracies, institutions, NGOs, agencies, & agents… which transcends and also contains mainstream medias (including the news, entertainment & sports complex), both parties, “elections”, politicians, administrations, as well surpassing national boundaries.
So, one is impelled to ask — what then is “america”?
Two essays within this link:
https://healthimpactnews.com/2022/americas-secret-government-by-proxy/
Excerpts:
“Security state agencies must justify their existence.
“There are 1,271 counter-terrorist, homeland security, and intelligence organizations; 1,931 private sector analogues; 10,000 locations of these organizations; and ~ 854,000 people with top-secret security clearances as of 2010.
“To make matters worse, the line between private and public is obscure in this industry.
Central to the mission:
Stop ideas (censorship)
Force other ideas (redirection)
Justify this control (propaganda)
“The think tanks that refer to themselves as “counter-violent extremists” (CVEs) are America’s proxy government responsible for censoring, shadow banning, ad feed tampering, search result manipulation, and “racism/extremism” deception.
“CVE programs are most effective when they are tailored and focused, often at a hyper-local level.”
“Meanwhile, the Council on Foreign Affairs (CFA) states that the top terrorist threat “is domestic rather than foreign,” yet Far Right extremism in North America causes less deaths than lightning strikes.”
Keeping in mind:
“We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” – William Casey, CIA Director 1981
I know I risk being instantly demonized for this comment, but one sentence in the story stood out to me:
“The young man who is the leader of this group…also made racially disparaging remarks…saying “f-ing white people” and said the N word multiple times.”
This suggests that the offending teenagers are black. I wonder, if this is true, how much the blaming of the victims in this case was a result of fear from YMCA staff of being accused of racism if they dare to hold these offenders to their supposed standards of behavior and side with the white victims. This may have more to do with what happened here than the current transgender mania sweeping this country, but I suspect that people who feel free to discuss the latter issue openly would still largely be afraid to deal with the former.
All of the teenagers were black, and one of them is a “transitioning” female to male…the YMCA employees have a close relationship with the teenagers who threatened to vandalize our family car, sexually assault my pregnant wife, and physically assault our unborn child. It’s amazing who the YMCA chooses to protect, and painfully obvious why they’re doing it.
2006: Washington State Legislature passed a law that prohibits discrimination based on an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The Human Rights Commission (HRC) administers and enforces laws against discrimination (WLAD). HRC enforced this law with equal access for transgender persons to gender-segregated facilities to which they identified.
2012: To explain its interpretation and enforcement of this law, HRC initiated a rule making process. The five unelected HRC members are selected by the governor with advice and consent of the senate. Elected in 2012, Jay Inslee is still Washington’s governor.
5/2015: HRC proposed rules related to sexual orientation and gender identity with a public hearing and comment period the following month.
4/2015: YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap counties (PKY) implemented a policy of permitting transgender individuals to choose a locker room based on personal comfort. No questions asked, no announcement to employees or members.
10/5/15: Over 1,000 complaints later, PKY made a “narrow revision” of this policy in family facilities in consideration of children. https://tinyurl.com/yeyknc8d
12/15/15: PKY reversed its “narrow revision,” allowing unlimited facilities access to transgender individuals in conjunction with facilities renovation. https://tinyurl.com/2zdt4uh5
12/26/15: HRC adopted the final version of rules covering a variety of issues concerning sexual orientation and gender non-discrimination. https://tinyurl.com/2p8r32wx
12/31/15: Rules summaries included a “Washington Times” article entitled: “Transgenders in Washington State to use restrooms based on identity, not anatomy: rule.” https://tinyurl.com/2p9ctw4a
1/8/16: Governor Inslee’s response to public concerns regarding a statewide open bathroom/locker room mandate referred to the 2006 law that made sexual orientation including gender identity protected WLAD classes. https://tinyurl.com/52xvvu2v
1/15/16: HRC released a paper explaining access to gender-segregated facilities. https://tinyurl.com/89b737tn
Quotation: “Only females can go into women’s bathrooms or locker rooms in a gender segregated situation. This includes transgender females who identify as female.”
Quotation: “The definition in the law does not limit protections to persons who have certain anatomical characteristics, who have had gender reassignment surgery, or who have undergone any other medical treatment.” Definition 26, https://tinyurl.com/35zwptze
Quotation: “If you are uncomfortable because of privacy concerns…you will have to make your own decision about what to do…while allowing the business to comply with the law.”
1/20-2/10/16: Senate efforts to repeal or modify the HRC rules. https://tinyurl.com/424zbvhk
2/10/16: SB 6443, which would have repealed WAC 162-32-060, failed by one vote. https://tinyurl.com/4px2mwd8
2/10/16: Senator Jim Hargrove, who represented our 24th district, voted in favor of repealing the “open bathroom” rule. He was succeeded in 2017 by Senator Kevin Van De Wege whose term ends in January 2025. https://tinyurl.com/hz6fhjzd
2/5/16: The House Judiciary Committee declined to give a hearing to HR 2589 which focused on restricting access of persons whose anatomy did not match the gender for which a facility was segregated. https://tinyurl.com/yeyk8pk5
Three of the five commissioners during this time were known for or openly supportive of LGBT protected class status. https://tinyurl.com/pdjddj7k
Ask Senator Van De Wege to reintroduce SB 6443. Ask candidates Sue Forde/Mike Chapman (position 1), Steve Tharinger/Brian Pruiett (position 2) about rationales, fairness and equality for anatomical females.
I encourage everyone to wear their cellphones around their necks while working out at the Y. They sell plastic cases for that. Simply record video the entire time you’re there, in case you need evidence of misbehavior to take to the leadership or press. Don’t need it? Erase it. But, these victims would have a MASSIVE lawsuit if they had documented evidence of their complaints being ignored by Bart. That’s all you need.
You’re not allowed to video or audio record in the YMCA. Unless you’re a creep/sexual deviant, then the YMCA will victim blame and protect the creepers recording.