“Nudity is permitted only while actively showering. Members are expected to put clothing on or be covered during use of the space outside of showering.”
A San Francisco YMCA has implemented new rules after a trans-identified male was seen walking around naked in the locker room in front of women and children, as well as allegedly harassing female members.
New rules at the Stonestown Family YMCA stated that "Nudity should be discreet, limited, and brief." The rule added, "Nudity is permitted only while actively showering. Members are expected to put clothing on or be covered during use of the space outside of showering," per the Daily Mail.
The new rules continued, "Respect privacy and personal space. Please maintain appropriate distance from others, be mindful of personal space during times of undress, and demonstrate courtesy at all times."
Also among the new rules are that hair dryers should be used "for drying head hair only," and that children five and younger need to be accompanied by a parent or guardian while using changing rooms for the opposite sex.
The new rules come after a series of complaints by female YMCA attendees against Sammy, a trans-identified male. Sammy, who had been a regular at the gym since 2024, has reportedly not been seen at the location since the new rules went into effect.
Elizabeth Kenney, a member of the Berkeley YMCA location that Sammy also attends, recalled to the outlet seeing the male "harassing" an elderly member who had asked him to cover up. The male allegedly told the elderly woman, "If you don't like the way I look, then you've got a sexual problem with yourself."
https://twitter.com/libbyemmons/status/2059028167885533482?s=20
Kenney recalled telling Sammy, "Get away from her, leave her alone. You're a man, you'd don't belong here." Sammy had also been caught on camera by Kenney’s husband, Travis, claiming to a YMCA staffer that a "drunk" woman had been lecturing him.
Anne, who attends the Stonestown YMCA location, filed a police report in March accusing Sammy of harassment. She said that after blow drying himself while naked, Sammy had walked up to her "very close," turned around, and used a handheld mirror to stare back at her.
Anne wrote in the police report, "He used it as if it were a rear-view mirror to look at me behind himself. His eyes caught mine in the mirror and I froze." She also claimed that Sammy had "paraded" around in front of Anne’s two young children in the locker room.
Elizabeth, another YMCA member, told the outlet that she had felt "repulsed and angry" to see the male "blow drying his entire naked body, including his penis, posed in front of all of the other women."
Despite the new rules, the YMCA restated that California law allows for people to use the locker room of their self-declared gender identity.
Susan Pete, a 59-year-old member of the YMCA who was a vocal critic of Sammy, told the outlet she hopes he’s gone for good. "The transgender people ruined everything for women. They ruined sports, ruined the locker room, they upset me," she said. "We've been very happy since he's been gone, but I don't know if he's going to come back and cover up, or fight against it. Hopefully he just went to Seattle."
She also raised concerns about the new rules being impractical. "So what are they going to do – having someone standing around monitoring the situation, saying 'you've been naked too long?' He's ruined everything."
Women Are Real, a Bay Area group defending women’s spaces, wrote in response to the rule changes, "We’ve been working to remove this guy from the women’s locker room for 2 years. He was literally there almost every day for HOURS. It’s a super tiny locker room and he spent hours in it."
https://twitter.com/WomenAreReals/status/2059041051684581751?s=20
https://twitter.com/WomenAreReals/status/2058999689522135409?s=20
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