A transgender woman has been charged with three counts of indecent exposure after using the women’s locker room at the YMCA in Xenia, Ohio.
Rachel Glines, 31, had not yet undergone gender reassignment surgery when they used the women’s changing facilities at the YMCA on several occasions in 2021 and 2022, WHIO-7 reported. The charges stem from three or more complaints from other YMCA patrons who “reported seeing a naked male in the female’s locker room,” according to the television station. Ms Glines is could appear in court as soon as next week.
Xenia is a town of roughly 25,000 people located just southeast of the larger city of Dayton. It is the seat of Greene County, which handed nearly 60 percent of its votes to Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
A spokesperson for the city said that its city council was in no way involved with in the decision to charge Ms Glines, despite the fact that council president Williams Urshcel discussed the charges during an event with the Greene County Tea Party.
“Neither the Xenia City Council, nor any member of the Council, had any part in the decision to file public indecency charges regarding the use of the YMCA’s locker rooms,” the spokesperson said in the statement to the television station. “The decision to file charges was based on the facts presented to the Law Department by the Xenia Police Division and the language of state statute,” the spokesperson said.
The YMCA of Greater Dayton told the station that it would comply with legal mandates while endeavoring to protect the privacy of its members.
“Under no circumstance will we investigate an individual’s birth identity and then assign individuals to locker rooms,” the YMCA statement read. “That would be counter to the law, counter to respect for all people and it is not who or what we are as an organization.”
There are myriad reasons why some transgender individuals cannot or do not undergo gender reassignment surgery. Notably, a 2021 study published in JAMA Surgery found that transgender individuals who do undergo the surgery are less likely to experience physcological distress or suicidal ideation.
The charges filed against Ms Glines come as Republican-led states have introduced and passed a wave of anti-transgender legislation in the last year-plus, restricting transgender individuals’ access to gender-affirming care and participation in sports.
