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Fight brewing over transgender person in Evergreen College locker room

BY Tim Haeck  on November 2, 2012 @ 7:41 am (Updated: 3:01 pm - 11/2/12 )

A new legal fight is brewing over Evergreen State College's decision to allow a transgender person to use the women's locker room.

A group that takes on legal issues surrounding religion has sent a letter to the college in Olympia.

It complains about the 45-year-old student with male genitals, who dresses as a woman.

The letter claims there has been a problem for years of men using the women's locker facilities, particularly the sauna.

Jeremy Tedesco, an attorney for some of the families who say the behavior is inappropriate, say the school needs to put a stop to the policy immediately.

"They're saying that their non-discrimination policy, which prohibits gender identity and gender expression discrimination, doesn't require them to leave the locker room and not come back," Tedesco told the Dori Monson Show. "It's just non-discrimination gone wild. It shows the problem with these expanding non-discrimination policies, which are very popular nowadays."

In response to complaints, the college has put up screens to shield the adults from children who use Evergreen's pool and locker room.

Installing curtains and requesting "that young girls change behind the curtains does not solve the problem," wrote David Hacker, Senior Legal Counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom.

Critics say the school, police, and prosecutors are ignoring indecency laws. The college says it's following its non-discrimination policy.

Tedesco explained that a person is allowed to define whether they're protected by his gender identity, gender expression discrimination prohibition simply by declaring what they are.

"As long as they make that declaration, they have to be able to use the women's locker room at a college or anywhere in the state. I don't think that's the way these policies should work out, but that's how Evergreen is saying they're going to imply theirs."

Tedesco said they've sent a letter to the school requesting they put a stop to the policy immediately, but they have not yet had a response from Evergreen.

Stephanie Klein, MyNorthwest.com Editor, contributed to this report.

Tim Haeck, KIRO Radio Reporter
Tim Haeck is a news reporter with KIRO Radio. While Tim is one of our go-to, no-nonsense reporters, he also has a sensationally dry sense of humor and it will surprise some to learn he is a weekend warrior.
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Comments (83)


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  • HLC wrote...
    What a brilliant scam.
    November 2, 2012 7:28 am
    I can see this working out for the younger studs. Good move Never Green.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Seattle Dad wrote...
    I don't see the problem
    November 2, 2012 7:47 am
    There's no difference between men and women. I was just told the other day that guy isn't really a guy because inside he knows he's a woman. There's a difference between sex and gender. Non-discrimination? Sounds like they are obviously discriminating against women who don't want to shower and change with men.... who think they're a woman.
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  • Realpeople wrote...
    Crazy "Dad"
    November 2, 2012 11:25 am
    There is a difference between genders. Question? Would you allow your wife to get undress in front of a male stranger? I think you wouldn't and if you do, you have a mental problem! Men are men and women are women. There is a big difference, and if it wasn't, why didn't "dad" marry a man?
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  • Nichole27 wrote...
    Derp.
    March 2, 2013 10:05 pm
    Because dad likes mom. Same reason anyone is who they're with.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • WAmovesRight wrote...
    Why is this controversial
    November 2, 2012 8:03 am
    I don't understand why our society would even consider this controversial?!? In what universe is it okay for a 45 yr old male to walk around naked in front of little girls while they're getting dressed? Seriously??? Come on WA state... enough is enough!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Nichole27 wrote...
    Why is it?
    March 2, 2013 10:07 pm
    In what world do we give so many fvcks about genitals? Jesus Christ, it's skin. Grow the fvck up, America. Most of the world has lapped you.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • WAmovesRight wrote...
    3.4%
    November 2, 2012 8:15 am
    According to Gallup that is the percentage in America that identifies as LGBT... that's it... just 3.4%

    Yet this extremely small percentage has somehow managed to shove their values... their belief system... their ideology in the face of the vast majority and being told we're bigots if we push back

    Fine... call me a bigot. I don't want violence done to them, yet I don't want them doing violence to me either.

    It keeps being said that the gay marriage agenda does no harm to society... I beg to differ. This guy is part of that agenda... notice how it's LGBT... not just Lesbian/gay.

    Yes, it does harm to these young girls to see this stuff... yes it does harm to our society to allow thi garbage.

    Do we want this to become ordinary behavior???

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  • duder wrote...
    3.4%
    November 2, 2012 9:04 am
    So 3.4% is too small of a minority for their rights to matter? That is more common than 1 in 30 people. In Washington State (where I assume you live, and certainly where the topic of this article is) the number is actually closer to 5.7% so more common than 1 in 20 people. And there are about 4.4% of Americans that are Asian-American. You're right that is such a small percentage, I can't even think of the last time I saw an Asian-American, why should we care about their rights either? Plus I fail to understand how it will "harm to these young girls to see this stuff". Is it the mere sight of adult genitalia of the (supposed) eventual gender the child will be attracted to as adults that harms them? Now, obviously if there was some form of sexual assault (or any sexual behavior for that matter) occurring that is a COMPLETELY different story. I seem to recall seeing female genitalia in sex ed class in 7th grade, and I think the female students saw male genitalia as well. I don't think they were "harmed" either.
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  • WAmovesRight wrote...
    Did you even read the story???
    November 2, 2012 9:31 am
    or the story that was posted yesterday that gave much more detail about this event? These are girls as young as 6 years old. The original story also says they had to change in front of this guy while he spread out in the Sauna. The fact that you don't think this is weird is exaclty the point I'm trying to make.

    You are part of the problem and not the solution.

    Since when is it a right for a naked man to hang out in the women's locker room watching girls get dressed? If I was an African American I would be incredibly insulted that these people are trying to hang onto the coatails of the black civil rights movement... incredibly insulted.

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  • duder wrote...
    Som
    November 2, 2012 9:58 am
    I did read only this story, so I am commenting regarding this alone. I do not directly have a problem with transgender biological male being allowed to change in a women's locker room per se. Perhaps some form of signage could be pursued if people are uncomfortable changing in such an environment. You seem to be implying some form of predatory intent however; this is a little troubling (at least from what I see in the article above). I fail to see the inherent connection between transgender and pedophile. As I stated before, if something inappropriate was occurring, that would be completely unacceptable. But it would be equally unacceptable for an adult woman to be doing something to make the girls uncomfortable, and adult women are already allowed in the locker room. It boggles my mind that the line between changing and inappropriate behavior is so grey to you. If something inappropriate was happening, by all means it should not be allowed, but I fail to see the connection between that and gender.
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  • Nichole27 wrote...
    "guy"
    March 2, 2013 10:09 pm
    Referring to a woman as a man makes you lose credibility danm quickly.
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  • Cbrew wrote...
    duder you're an idiot
    November 2, 2012 11:43 am
    I'm sorry but if you don't understand why it's inappropriate for a young child to see a grown adult's genitalia then i guess you're okay with Children watching porn? you're okay with kids seeing a bunch of nude pictures? It's not something I would want my children to see and i'll tell you if there was a Grown man in a shower room with my young daughter i would be very concerned, in fact i'd probably beat the ever living crap out of him. So sorry if you don't get this but 96.6% of Americans shouldn't have to change for 3.4%... It's not the way it works. Sorry if you have a problem with this but that is the reality of the world, you don't change everything for 30 folks out of 1000. it's not how our society works it's not really how any society works.
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  • maplefish wrote...
    Cbrew
    November 2, 2012 7:51 pm
    I am with you on 100% this! Well put! I'd have a definite problem with a MAN in the shower room with my daughter as well. This is ridiculous. Why are we giving special treatment to ONE PERSON over the well being of many others???
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  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    So 3.4% is too small of a minority for their rights to matter?
    November 2, 2012 4:04 pm
    Yes. Because it comes at the expense of the other 96.6% that are NORMAL!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Nichole27 wrote...
    Expense?
    March 2, 2013 10:10 pm
    Not getting to force people to heart teh Jezuz is not expense. Rape Jesus in the anus for all I care. With a big pointy stick. Imaginary friends don't care :-)
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  • Summer time wrote...
    3% is small, that is why it is a minority
    November 2, 2012 11:11 am
    First of all, the woman in the locker room is NOT a man! Second, where is the proof that children seeing a trans woman are somehow harmed? Everyone here is justifying their bias that children are somehow being hurt because they saw something different. Are children hurt by seeing someone in a wheel chair? How about by seeing an Asian-American? I remember once when I was a child I asked my Mom why the woman next to us was so fat? I simply had never seen someone so big. I was curious, not harmed! Trans women are women with different shaped bodies; it is that simple! Just like people with different colour skin, different size bodies, different handicap, we are all somehow different from each other, can't we get along? Trans is not a choice. Just like getting cancer is not a choice. Try and imagine how hard it is for this woman to have uneducated people writing comments about her on the internet. She didn't pick this life anymore than any of you have chosen the challenges in your lives. Let's be supportive of everyone, please.
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  • Seajak101 wrote...
    Transgender is a choice
    November 2, 2012 12:52 pm
    Summer. Your writing cannot be a true way of thinking. If you want to identify as a woman then get the surgery and become one before you enter into the woman's world. By the way, Cancer can be a choice. If you choose to smoke 2packs of cigarettes a day you are choosing to up your chance of getting cancer so I is a choice in some instances. Just how I would feel it would be wrong for a dad to take a shower with his 6 year old little girl. There are things that children should not have to endure or be exposed to.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Nichole27 wrote...
    Choice
    March 2, 2013 10:11 pm
    Yes. People choose to go though the helll of assholes like you for...kicks, or something. Not what the American Medical Association says, that it's a born thing.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • gomariners wrote...
    Hard for "her"
    November 2, 2012 6:50 pm
    If this is so hard for her/him then why is she/he going on tv? Why does this person have zero respect for little girls as young as six? It is not normal for a grown up naked man to hang it all out in front of children. Notice he goes to a public pool and sauna... if this is so important to him go to a grown up pool and sauna. He goes to this pool so that he can go on tv and become a celeb and whine over his rights. I don't want his choices shoved in my face and I certainly don't want them shoved in childrens faces. Amazing to me that such a small minority can wield so much power and make people lose their common sense. Life isn't fair and no one gets everything they want. Man - woman whatever but you are a grown up, act like it.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Nichole27 wrote...
    Women naked
    March 2, 2013 10:12 pm
    They see adult women naked in there all the time. Get over it. Life is X rated. Nobody was traumatized before the invention of clothes.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Sean wrote...
    WAmoves...
    November 2, 2012 11:54 am
    I'm with you, and I don't get how people just give in to this tiny minority, when there's no hate, bigotry, intolerance or anything else going on. Just adherance to some basic and very significant tradition. I know quite well where the intolerance is in this situation...
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  • Nichole27 wrote...
    "Tradition"
    March 2, 2013 10:13 pm
    Fallacy. Doing stuff cos that's how other people did it is not a reason. As people, the goal is to move *forward*.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Nichole27 wrote...
    Harm?
    March 2, 2013 10:07 pm
    Any actual proof? Any actual evidence that pen0rzz kill little girls? Or just puritanism?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rick W7PSK wrote...
    PC
    November 2, 2012 8:40 am
    Run Amok
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Nickatnyt wrote...
    Par for the course, right?
    November 2, 2012 9:17 am
    If you choose to go to this bastion of PC insanity then you should expect this kind of fruit-loop behavior. Do people really enroll there without knowing the extent of whack-a-doodle thinking that goes on there?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • WAmovesRight wrote...
    You're right... but...
    November 2, 2012 9:35 am
    The problem is that this is considered a controvery in our state... it's not just at Evergreen State College. Where is WOW? where's the Govenor? Where are the women's groups that will stand up for the rights of our children?

    It's like our state is sacrificing our children on the altar of Political correctness... fo rthat matter when did it become politiclaly correct to allow a minority to thrust it's own agenda on the majority? It's not about equal rights.. it's about fore-feeding idealism.

    This is NOT the civil rights movement of the 60s... it's the biggest con to ever be perpetrated in our culture!

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ElenaT wrote...
    don't overstate the seriousness of this
    November 2, 2012 3:38 pm
    there are definitely worse cons that have been perpetrated on us. i definitely don't think that someone should be wagging their junk in front of little girls, but this is an isolated case of an attention-seeking individual. post-op, whatever, but this is wrong.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Nichole27 wrote...
    That's what they said in the sixties.
    March 2, 2013 10:13 pm
    Hate groups like to pretend they're right instead of admitting their hatred. Thankfully, you tend to lose.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HLC wrote...
    So dud.
    November 2, 2012 9:24 am
    You must feel there should be no indecent exposure laws either? And you wonder why the majority are against your homo lifestyle? It's perverts like you fool. You probably dangle for little girls every chance you get.
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  • duder wrote...
    Incorrect
    November 2, 2012 9:29 am
    I do agree with the existence of indecent exposure laws. But I don't think you could get arrested for indecent exposure while changing in a locker room. Isn't that the topic here?
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  • WAmovesRight wrote...
    Not quite
    November 2, 2012 9:37 am
    The topic is changing in a locker room of the opposite sex. This dude has stated he has no plans for sex-change operation. He sisply says he identifies as a woman. Furthermore, he's not just chaning in there either. He hangs out in the sauna.

    I just cannnot believe the people who are defending this guy... what is wrong with you?!?

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  • Nichole27 wrote...
    Why do you care
    March 2, 2013 10:15 pm
    Penises: They don't kill people
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  • Ernie in the East wrote...
    Duder, you don't get it, do you?
    November 3, 2012 9:13 pm
    You don't get it duder, do you? You agree with indecent exposure laws but have no problem with men using the women's sauna and women's locker rooms to hang out and change in? What, I suppose the man in the sauna without clothing is not indecent because he's in a sauna? Or he's not indecent in the locker room changing because that's where you change? Never mind the real women and girls (not the guys who "think" their women) who use those same facilities are exposed to this guy. We have some seriously twisted, perverted people out there who think that this is not a problem.
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  • Nichole27 wrote...
    "Men"
    March 2, 2013 10:16 pm
    You use that word. It's not the correct word to use here.
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  • Nichole27 wrote...
    Lol
    March 2, 2013 10:15 pm
    You're funny, pretending to be a grown up. Go back to school, HLC. Recess ended five minutes ago!
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  • Pugwamp wrote...
    Why is there a "B" in LGBT?
    November 2, 2012 9:37 am
    Bisexuals are just sick individuals who enjoy sex so much they don't care who they spend there time with. They don't need special consideration. IN MY OPINION.
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  • Howdy wrote...
    The "B" and the "T"...
    November 4, 2012 10:58 am
    are used to add numbers in the groupn to further their agenda- my guess. I think a few other letters have been added to identify another sub group.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Nichole27 wrote...
    Objectively wrong
    March 2, 2013 10:17 pm
    There are plenty of monogamous bisexuals. They simply do not care about the genitals of their partner or partners. You act like there's something wrong with caring more about the inside than the outside.
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  • WAmovesRight wrote...
    From another news source...
    November 2, 2012 9:43 am
    ... that gives a lot more detail than MyNW...

    "According to a police report, the mother of a 17-year-old girl complained after her daughter saw the transgender individual walking naked in the locker room. A female swim coach confronted the man sprawled out in a sauna exposing himself. She ordered him to leave and called police."

    Is that you "civil rights", Duder?

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  • Cbrew wrote...
    This is what i can't understand
    November 2, 2012 11:50 am
    It's indecent exposure anywhere but the locker room? You're okay with Adults of the opposite sex exposing themselves to children as long as it's in a locker room!? Geeze i bet this duder freak and this summer time freak were in Jerry Sandusky's corner... it's cool if freaks hang out in the locker room exposing themselves to children right? frackin whackos
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  • 2shbag wrote...
    Arghh
    November 2, 2012 10:11 am
    This is a disgrace an an outrage.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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