Fists flew and tensions ran high in East County Wednesday night during dueling protests over transgender policy at the Santee YMCA.
The debate stemmed from a teenage girl's address to the Santee City Council during a Jan. 11 meeting in which she detailed an interaction she said she had with a transgender woman in the locker room.
She said she was startled by the transgender woman changing in the women's locker room.
“I ran into a bathroom stall to change as quickly as I could, organizing my thoughts to share with people at the front desk,” 17-year-old Rebecca Phillips told the council.
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Phillips' story set off an emotion-packed debate that led up to Wednesday's protest. One side of demonstrators protested in the name of women's and girls' privacy rights, while the other side claimed anti-trans legislation is rooted in bigotry.
An NBC 7 camera crew captured a brief fight during the protest.
The YMCA of San Diego County issued a statement in response to criticism of its policy, saying "Our priority is that everyone is welcome and safe at our Y and we will work to ensure our privacy measures reflect that."
The Unruh Civil Rights Act provides protection from discrimination by all business establishments in California. Those protections are in effect for housing and public accommodations, because of age, ancestry, color, disability, national origin, race, religion, sex and sexual orientation.
By the letter of the law, a San Diego-area attorney said there was nothing illegal about what happened in the locker room.
“From a legal perspective, the legislature had the intention that there should be equality in the offerings, whether it's restrooms, or any type of services that companies offer, and so we have to go by the law,” explained attorney Jessica Pride. “People are entitled to equal services.”
“You know this is a tough situation because I understand both perspectives, but under the law, the YMCA is required to provide equal services," Pride continued. "And so if people are upset with the way that the law is currently stated, the best thing to do is to talk to their local politicians so that they can lobby the legislator to either get clarification on the law or to change it."
