{"id":327,"date":"2025-06-01T14:30:02","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T14:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kudosscreen.com\/?p=327"},"modified":"2025-06-02T11:25:35","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T11:25:35","slug":"us-womens-only-spa-barred-from-excluding-transwomen-with-penises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kudosscreen.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/01\/us-womens-only-spa-barred-from-excluding-transwomen-with-penises\/","title":{"rendered":"US women\u2019s-only spa barred from excluding transwomen with penises"},"content":{"rendered":"

Such an approach would violate Washington state\u2019s anti-discrimination law, a court has ruled<\/strong><\/p>\n

A federal appeals court has obliged a Korean spa in Lynnwood, Washington to provide services to transgender females. The beauty parlor had attempted to bar transwomen who have not undergone gender-affirming surgery from entering its ladies-only facilities.<\/p>\n

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday, in a 2\u20131 vote, that Olympus Spa must change its admissions policy to comply with the anti-discrimination law. The court found that the spa\u2019s owners were not being deprived of their First Amendment rights, such as the right to free exercise of religion, freedom of speech and right of association, by the State of Washington\u2019s requirement.<\/p>\n

Olympus Spa, which operates two locations in the state, is a traditional Korean bathhouse offering massages, body scrubs, and hot tubs that require full nudity. In 2020, the Washington State Human Rights Commission filed a complaint after a transgender woman\u2014who had not undergone genital surgery\u2014was denied entry.<\/p>\n

The Commission argued that the spa\u2019s ladies-only policy violated the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD), which prohibits discrimination in public accommodations based on gender identity and gender expression.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"US
US takes state to court over transgender athletes<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In response, Olympus Spa filed a lawsuit claiming the state was violating the owners\u2019 constitutional rights to freedom of religion, speech, and association. The spa, run by a Christian Korean-American family, cited religious and cultural beliefs in opposing the inclusion of individuals with male genitalia in female-only spaces where nudity is required.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe family-run business is owned by Korean Christians who hold sincere faith-based convictions against allowing persons whose genitals are external (males) to be present with persons whose genitals are internal (females) while in a state of partial or full undress if such persons are not married to one another,\u201d<\/em> the complaint stated.<\/p>\n

However, the Ninth Circuit ruled that enforcement of the state law does not violate the First Amendment. Writing for the majority, Judge Margaret McKeown said that providing a Korean body scrub or massage does not constitute protected expressive conduct. She added that accepting the spa\u2019s argument would essentially make every gym or massage parlor exempt from nondiscrimination laws.<\/p>\n

The ruling comes amid broader national debates on transgender rights. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump reversed several protections for trans individuals, ending federal support for child sexual mutilation procedures and issuing executive orders banning transwomen from women\u2019s sports and removing \u201cradical gender ideology\u201d<\/em> from the military.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Such an approach would violate Washington state\u2019s anti-discrimination law, a court has ruled A federal appeals court has obliged a Korean spa in Lynnwood, Washington to provide services to transgender females. The beauty parlor had…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading “US women\u2019s-only spa barred from excluding transwomen with penises”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kudosscreen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kudosscreen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kudosscreen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kudosscreen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kudosscreen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kudosscreen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":331,"href":"https:\/\/kudosscreen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327\/revisions\/331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kudosscreen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kudosscreen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kudosscreen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kudosscreen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}