Transgender woman goes on trial over Xenia YMCA incidents
Visitors packed Xenia Municipal Court on Tuesday morning for the trial of a transgender woman facing public indecency charges over incidents at the Xenia YMCA last year.
Rachel Glines, 31, of Fairborn, was charged with three counts of public indecency for incidents in September and November 2022, and a third incident between November 2021 and 2022 in which underage girls were present. The charges are all fourth-degree misdemeanors.
Witness testimony in court Tuesday morning indicated Glines had been in a state of complete undress during all three incidents, which happened in the common area of the women’s locker room.
Xenia police received “several complaints of a naked man in the females’ locker room” of the YMCA branch, on Progress Drive in Xenia, according to the criminal complaint.
The women who encountered Glines described being deeply disconcerted and scared, with one mother saying she told her two daughters to hide in the showers until Glines left.
Xenia City Prosecutor Melvin Planas, prosecuting the case for Ohio, noted Glines’ actions “recklessly” caused the likelihood of indecent exposure, regardless of gender identity.
“Keep in mind that the standard here is ‘reckless,’” Planas said of state law on the subject, adding that state statute indicates that public indecency law applies if an individual’s genitals are “likely” to be viewed by others.
Glines’ defense told Judge David McNamee on Tuesday morning that the requirement for public indecency charges, that an offender’s genitalia had been exposed to others, was not met, as Glines’ genital area had been covered by other
parts of the body.
Per testimony, all three witnesses said they did not see Glines’ genital area, either because they had removed themselves from the situation or because the area was coveredbyotherpartsofthebody.
As such, the state failed to prove sufficient cause for public indecency charges,
Glines’ lawyers argued.
“Exposure is an inescapable and necessary element on its own that the state is required to prove,” said Lauren Dever, Glines’ attorney, adding that there was “not one iota of evidence” to support the state’s position.
However, Planas said, the idea that parts of one’s body can be used as a covering is “ridiculous.”
Final briefs from both sides must be submitted by April 3, after which McNamee will issue a written decision, he said Tuesday.
A Motion in Limine, filed by Glines’ attorneys March 8 and granted March 16, asked that counsels for both the defense and state omit any references to Glines as male during court proceedings. Planas’ remarks Tuesday were peppered with objections throughout the three-hour trial as he continued to use male pronouns in reference to Glines.