Missouri AG Announces Yet Another Investigation - Unsurprisingly, Fueled by Transphobia
A trans woman is banned from the gym and investigated by the AG, all for being accosted in the locker room by some Karen.
by Mira Lazine
Daily Femail is Assigned Media’s newest column, offering real opinions delivered with a satirical tone to address last week’s biggest news stories. Written by Mira Lazine, the column aims to humorously mock right-wing tabloids while also providing quality reporting every Tuesday.
Last week, the Missouri Attorney General announced he was launching an “investigation” into the heinous crime of a trans woman using the women’s locker rooms at a gym.
Life Time Gym in the suburbs of St. Louis, seemed like an accepting place to Eris Montano, the woman in question. She had previously used the gym without any issue, and staff at the gym had a policy openly welcoming her. However, one day, the world’s biggest Karen approached her as she was getting changed and started throwing a tantrum.
Her issue was obvious - how dare a trans woman… use a gym, and… get changed? Truly, one of the world’s most terrible crimes. The Karen misgendered Montano and continued harassing her.
“She kept telling me that I was a man, that I didn’t belong there,” Montano said to the St. Louis Dispatch. “I’m not there to see anybody else. I am there to change clothes, and get the heck out of there.”
Daily Femail finds no evidence to suggest that trans women are using women’s restrooms or changing rooms for any purpose other than to do their business and leave. We are waiting to see evidence of this mythical movement to somehow gawk and harass poor, innocent cis women. We do, however, see evidence of trans women being harassed quite frequently.
Montano using the gym changing room had spurred quite a bit of vitriol after this was shared and talked about on social media. Legions of hate mobs began to attack her, going after every one of her socials to pick and choose at something, anything to use as evidence that she’s somehow actually evil, and not just a random woman they picked off the street.
Montano had tugged at her bra strap to emphasize that she has breasts, that she is a woman. Sometimes, gender essentialism can feel a bit necessary to get vitriolic anti-trans activists off one’s behind.
This seemed to be enough to get angry conservatives calling for an “investigation” into Montano. Missouri state Representative Justin Sparks (R) had said publicly, “People are very upset by this. Everybody wants to know, ‘Why is this person not being arrested? Why is this person being allowed into the locker room? How is this happening?’”
What exactly had Montano done to warrant being arrested? Why, the most terrible crime of being a trans woman in public, of course! She’s done so much wrong, clearly, and is just one of the worst sinners on the planet. At least, according to the conservatives who continuously send hate mobs to her.
Andrew Bailey had caught wind of this situation and began an investigation into both the gym and the trans woman. It’s unclear what exactly he’s investigating - Police Captain Andy Vaughn of Ellisville, the suburb of St. Louis where the gym is located, had said to the St. Louis Dispatch, “To my knowledge, no law has been broken. No victims have come forward saying that this individual has exposed themselves, and Life Time is not requesting that this person be removed from their property.” If even the police, the most organized anti-trans group in the country, is saying she didn’t do anything wrong, that’s really saying something.
Now, Life Time had initially defended their position to keep Montano at the gym, saying, “there are varying opinions regarding locker room access,” adding, “As a company, we are committed to following the law in every area we operate with respect to public accommodation. Life Time is committed to providing safe, welcoming and respectful environments. To the extent we receive reports of conduct inconsistent with our club policies, we review and address them.”
However, they then suddenly turned course and banned Montano from their facilities indefinitely. The reason was social media posts - she allegedly made some that were threatening, though on her public Facebook she denies that this is the case. As far as Daily Femail can tell, there is no evidence that she made any meaningful threats against the gym at this time. Even National Review couldn’t find meaningful evidence that she had actually done anything threatening.
It appears more likely that the gym had caved into the hate mob. Bailey had set his targets on the gym, as they wrote a letter requesting that he spare them from his targeting. It’s very wild how institutions that restrict the rights of trans people are suddenly victims when they receive the same hatred. Who would’ve thought?
We’ll await to see what Bailey will do with the gym. He recently won primaries for maintaining his seat as attorney general in the state, and with the Republican base of the state dominating electoral politics, it’s unlikely he’ll be dethroned from his position of attacking anyone who’s marginalized in some way. But, if it’s anything like his investigation into gender affirming care, then opponents of Bailey can relish in yet another failure under his belt.
Mira Lazine is a freelance journalist covering transgender issues, politics, and science. She can be found on Twitter, Mastodon, and BlueSky, @MiraLazine