As she narrated her story, protestors heckled an elderly lady who was banned from a YMCA pool after she insisted a transgender employee vacate the women’s locker room.
Julie Jaman was taking a shower at the Mountain View pool in the city of Port Townsend, Washington, when she saw the employee in the locker room.
The 80-year-old woman was delivering a speech on her life when irate trans protesters tore down the suffragette banner she was speaking in front of and began yelling loudly over her.
Jaman alleges that she heard a ‘man’s voice’ while changing last week and immediately approached Clementine Adams, who identifies as a woman.
She said that she asked Adams if she had a penis, and she said it was ‘none of her business’, so she asked them to leave.
Rowen DeLuna, the aquatics manager at the YMCA, told Jaman that she was “discriminating” and that the police would be contacted. Jaman told a member of the pool staff that she was “discriminating,” and DeLuna informed her that the police would be called.
Before DeLuna phoned law authorities, Jaman was characterised as having a “emotional response” and “screaming” in the incident report.
Yesterday, when addressing a gathering of fans, she said, ‘I’m the old lady. You may have read some version of my personal experience, a naked old lady in the women shower room and what I saw that day.
‘The CEO of the YMCA told me pride posters are adequate to let people know, women know, what to expect in the shower room known for 60 years as a female only.
‘One will now encounter men who identify as women undressing and showering with female humans. I object.
‘I don’t want to be forced to shower and dress with the opposite sex present.’
As she attempts to continue her speech, a male voice can be heard shouting ‘if you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.’
Other voices then pile in shouting ‘don’t touch our stuff’ and back up as the protestors got closer and closer before eventually ripping off the suffragette flags which had been put up behind Jaman.
She attempted to continue, and got visibly upset, before more angry activists started changing ‘trans rights are human rights’ and ‘trans women are women’.
Jaman continued: ‘I wish the police were here to keep everybody in order. We’ll have to call the police department. Are we gonna get beaten up here? Can somebody call the police please.
‘You can see why its so necessary to have safe spaces for women. This is truly an embarrassing subject, biology trumps ideology.
‘Privacy, safety, dignity for female human beings is required when dressing and showering no less is acceptable.’
The incident has sparked a talking point within the LGBTQ+ community, with some arguing that the trans activist behaviour should not reflect the rest of the community.
Many agreed with Jaman, with one sharing the footage on twitter before saying: ‘To any LGB people wondering why LGB should drop the T, it’s because of stuff like this.
‘These are the people you’re sharing an acronym with.
‘Like it or not, their behaviour reflects on you. It’s not fair, but it’s reality. That’s why LGB should drop the T.’
An incident report filed by the Port Townsend Police Department described Jaman having ‘had an emotional response to a strange male being in the bathroom’ near young girls.
Notes from the police detail how Jaman was in the locker room, ‘screaming’ at an employee and ‘refusing to leave.’
Jaman, who has been a member of the pool for 35 years claims she had a ‘great relationship with swimmers in the pool.’
But bosses at the facility say Jaman’s barring is a culmination of a series of incidents where she ‘violated the facility’s code of conduct’ and was not solely due to this specific incident.
Erin Hawkins, communications manager for the Olympic Peninsula YMCA, said: ‘We will not tolerate bias, hatred, or discrimination that leads to the oppression of individuals or communities.
‘We will ensure sustained and meaningful progress toward equity and human dignity for all.’
Jaman said she did not feel comfortable being naked and showering with a person born as a male in the same room.
She believes the facility should put up warning signs that the changing rooms are able to be used by trans people.
Jaman said: ‘They told me that I was being discriminatory and not following the YMCA principles and values. I told her I respect all human beings, and I’m not following any ideology.
‘I told her there were no signs posted to give women warning, I was told there were Pride posters posted all over and that it was assumed that was adequate to inform women what to expect.
‘That’s fine with me, except that they do not provide alternatives for women who choose not to be undressing in front of men,.
‘Our pool is a very old pool. We just have two shower rooms, dressing rooms, one for men, one for women.’
Bart claims Jaman told Adams, who has yet to undergo gender reassignment surgery but has launched a GoFundMe to raise funds, ‘you’re going to stick your f***ing penis in those little girls.’
Jaman denies making such a statement, and claims: ‘I asked if he had a penis and he said it was none of my business. I told that man to ‘get out right now!”
Since her being banned from the pool, a protest was held outside the facility at which supporters of Jaman and trans activists both attended.
Adams says she feels the need to undergo surgical procedures in order to ‘feel like I’m able to be myself.’