Ohio YMCA faces backlash from women over trans-identified men in their locker rooms

Ohio YMCAs are facing backlash for allowing trans-identified men into women's changing rooms, which has sparked a war against the gym's "inclusive" policies that allow for women to be subjected to male genitalia in the locker rooms, with one claiming they had even been sexually assaulted.

Women who patron multiple YMCA locations across the state of Ohio spoke to Daily Signal about their "disturbing" experiences with Rachel Glines, an obese trans-identified male who was recently found not guilty after being charged with three counts of public indecency for allegedly walking around fully nude in female locker rooms.



In November 2022, a mother who asked to remain anonymous in order to protect the privacy of her two daughters, claimed that she witnessed Glines getting dressed and "leering" while she and her girls were in the shower, according to the outlet.

Due to Glines' obese frame and the fact that he was wearing a women's swimming suit in the pool, she and her daughters weren't sure if he was a man or a woman prior to the incident.  It was on Nov. 7, 2022, when the mother came face-to-face with Glines in the changing room who was reportedly "completely naked and he was facing out."

"I was just totally freaked out … His belly was so big that it was covering his privates," the mother told the outlet.

After entering into a state of panic, she explained that she decided to confront Glines and asked him, "Are you a woman?"
 

"Yes," Glines allegedly responded.

"Do you have male body parts?" the mother asked.

Glines reportedly responded, "Do you want to see my ID?"

"No," the mother said, "But I think you would feel more comfortable in the family bathroom."

Following the altercation, the mother complained to Dale Brunner, president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Dayton, which left her "livid." Brunner reportedly lectured her about anti-trans discrimination and shrugged off her concerns, saying that the YMCA "could be sued."

"Do you have daughters?" she asked Brunner. "Do you want your daughters in there with this man?"

Brunner allegedly looked at her daughters and responded, "Your daughters look pretty competent."

Janell Holloway of Xenia, Ohio, says she was swimming at the YMCA on Sept. 26, 2022, when she saw Glines, who she had previously coached in tennis. For this, Holloway says she knew Glines was a man and became startled after seeing him in the women's locker room on that day. 

"When he finished getting dressed, he came towards me," she said. "So, I pulled the door shut a little bit, so he couldn't see me, but I assume he might have seen me...I was in my swimsuit still. He didn't go in front of my shower stall. He stopped in the area of the sinks, which are kind of between the locker areas and showers, and he was there very briefly before he went back out.”

Holloway says she immediately left the locker room to find her husband to report the incident, telling him "Darren Glines is in there!”

"He has all his clothes off, and he's in there. He’s fooling the [YMCA]. We've got to let them know. They don't know that there's a man in there," she reportedly said.

However, when Holloway went to report the incident, Chris Stevens, a female staff member, said they already knew Glines used the women's locker room and informed Holloway that Glines uses "she/her pronouns," according to the outlet.

Stevens also claimed that the YMCA had told Glines he could use the women's, men's, or family dressing rooms, whichever he preferred.

Holloway told Stevens, "No, this was Darren. He is lying to you, and you need to get him out of here,” Holloway says Stevens said she didn't know what to do and that the situation had been bothering her.

The Holloways stopped by the Xenia YMCA to speak with former director Alan Milkis who was reportedly "not concerned," which led to them cancelling their membership.

Kateisha Young, an employee at the Fairborn YMCA, claims that Glines started discussing sex with her, including masturbation. Young, who is married, was taken aback by Glines' willingness to bring up these subjects with her, she told Reduxx.

"When he started sharing his sexual fantasies … I tried really hard to tolerate it. I tried to be open to the idea that it was maybe just an aspect of transitioning," Young told the outlet. "I had wanted to be sympathetic and compassionate."

Although she was aware of some opposition at the Xenia YMCA, she had concluded that Glines was innocent since her coworkers had painted this opposition as anti-transgender and hostile to Glines. Since then, her emotions have drastically shifted.

She admits, "I was wrong for overlooking the girls’ trauma at the Xenia YMCA and I accept that. I learned a hard lesson through my own experience, and I regret my ignorance very much. I genuinely thought he had simply been in the locker room, not exposing his nudity. But even that, now, seems outrageous to me."

In December 2022, Young claimed that Grines had allegedly groped her after accepting an invitation to coffee to discuss his troubles at the YMCA.

Young says she hugged Glines after coffee to soothe him about his experiences. She was shocked when Glines touched her.

"He's really, really large," she says. I was sitting to his left. I had to stand up to hug him."

Instead of hugging her, Glines allegedly felt her buttocks and cupped under her, putting his fingers into her.

Young reported the incident to Fairborn Police on Dec. 8, 2022, and told Glines via text message that they could no longer be friends. She sought a protective order against Glines after he started visiting the Fairborn YMCA during business hours and approaching her desk.

Young told police that Glines kept returning to the YMCA after she filed the report. "She suspects that he has been trying to find her,” the report states, according to Daily Signal.

Local reports claimed in January that Glines was facing three indecent exposure accusations after women spotted him nude in the women's locker room. However, Judge David McNamee ruled in May that Glines was too obese for his genitalia to be visible to other people when he was naked, as his attorneys had asserted, so he could not have been guilty of indecent exposure in the YMCA locker room.