SANTEE YMCA TO LIMIT PUBLIC NUDITY IN LOCKER ROOMS
Ways of assuring privacy mulled after fallout over transgender use policy
Santee’s YMCA has withdrawn a request for funding through the city and will limit nudity in shared spaces as fallout grows over its policy, based on state statute, allowing transgender people to use the locker rooms that align with their gender.
The mayor said the facility was exploring a redesign during another packed council meeting in which an angry crowd demanded Santee end its lease with the Cameron Family YMCA.
Mayor John Minto said the city would “fast track” construction permits so nobody had to change clothes in front of others.
“They said they’re more than willing to make this happen,” Minto said Wednesday. “If we can correct this problem with a great solution, then let’s do that.”
The mayor pledged to discuss locker room layouts at a future date, although he was heckled when he said the city’s options were limited by California civil rights law.
YMCA officials said staff were continuing to receive “some threats” since a teenager publicly said she felt unsafe after spotting a transgender woman near the showers. Hundreds protested last month outside the facility during two rallies that included small scuffles with counterprotesters and apparent members of the Proud Boys, the extremist organization with members on trial for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“We are grateful for the thousands of community members who are committed to working with the Y so that it remains a place of well-being for all,” Laura Merritt, a spokesperson for the YMCA of San Diego County, wrote in an email Thursday. The nonprofit oversees more than a dozen locations around the region, including Santee’s.
Last year, the facility received a Community Development Block Grant worth almost $4,000, which is federal money distributed by the city, but the YMCA this week withdrew its request for more funding in 2023, officials said.
Merritt wrote the withdrawal was due “to timing.” She did not