Teenager Distressed Over Seeing a Trans Woman at the YMCA

The story has been widely covered in the right wing press.

by Evan Urquhart

A 17-year-old in California was startled to see a trans woman unexpectedly. Rebecca Phillips was showering after a swim at the Santee YMCA when, she says, she saw a naked trans women who she believed at the time to be a man. Phillips ducked back into the shower and hid until the woman left, then approached the staff who told her the person she’d seen was a trans woman and had not been out of place.

Phillips does not allege that the trans woman she saw behaved inappropriately. However, she’s now on a mission to have the YMCA’s inclusive policies changed so that other minors won’t have to see trans women when they’re showering or changing. The teen has suggested transgender customers should be forced to use the YMCA’s family restrooms, or “any additional facility beside the women’s locker room.”

The right wing press has widely covered this story of a 17-year-old not wanting to share facilities, and Phillips recently appeared on Tucker Carlson’s program on Fox News. Neither the right wing press nor Phillips seem to think a reasonable solution would be for customers who do not wish to share a public locker room with the rest of the public use the family restrooms themselves.