On Monday, a judge in Washington ordered a women’s only spa to accept biological men who believe they are “trans women,” according to a report from the New York Post.
Seattle District Court Judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein reportedly upheld a discrimination ruling against Olympus Spa, a Korean women’s-only spa, where being naked is "compulsory," filed by a “local trans activist” named Haven Wilvich, a biological male who believes he is a woman. Previously, the spa reportedly accepted trans “women” who had undergone irreversible sex reassignment surgery (via the New York Post):
Wilvich, however, “‘identifies as a woman’ but ‘is biologically male and has not undergone sex reassignment surgery,'” the court papers said — noting that the spa never had a record of the activist ever actually going there.
Wilvich first complained in February 2020, and the Washington State Human Rights Commission (WSHRC) later agreed that the Korean spa discriminated against Wilvich based on “sexual orientation.”
“I did it!” Wilvich had posted at the time, celebrating getting “the main naked lady spa in the area to change their policies and allow all self-identified women access regardless of surgery and genitals.”
Wilvich also bragged about being “more woman” than TERFs, the snub meaning Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist.
“I’m more woman than any TERF will ever be because I am an intentional woman whereas they are only incidental,” the activist wrote amid the ongoing legal tussle.
In her ruling, Rothstein noted how the WSHRC defines “sexual orientation” as including those whose “gender identity, self-image, appearance, behavior, or expression is different from that traditionally associated with the sex assigned to that person at birth.”
Women-only spa forced to allow trans customers with penises even though everyone is naked https://t.co/YG6DWPVP65 pic.twitter.com/YW064jATTI
— New York Post (@nypost) June 9, 2023
Myoon Woon Lee, the spa owner, had sued to reverse the decision, noting that the policies went against his “traditional, theologically conservative” Christian beliefs. Lee also “conveyed his fear that exposing female customers (especially minors) to male genitalia could subject Olympus Spa to criminal penalties.” Reportedly, there had been “several” occasions where female customers “notice male genitals exposed” at the spa and those patrons “demanded refunds and never returned.” However, Rothstein upheld the WSHRC's decision that the steps taken to the force the spa to allow men was lawful.
According to Daily Mail, in 2021, a Korean spa in California made headlines after a sex offender, who identified as "transgender," was permitted in a women-only space. The man, Darren Merager, faces five felony counts of indecent exposure.
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