Recently, a Chinese woman named Chen, residing in Arcadia, discovered a user in the women’s locker room of a chain gym in Los Angeles who had a rough voice and appeared to be male. When Chen expressed her discomfort to the staff and raised the issue, the response she received was that she could use other areas, leaving her puzzled and questioning the shift in majority rule: “When did it start that the majority has to comply with the minority? Why should women be driven out of the women’s restroom?”
According to Chen, she heard a male voice inside the gym’s women’s locker room on the day of the incident and then saw a user who appeared to be male. The staff assured her that it was a female and asked if she felt uncomfortable. Chen immediately challenged the staff’s judgment criteria and questioned the gym’s management mechanism and customer safety measures. She later told reporters, “Clearly, the actions of the minority are making the majority of us uncomfortable, but we cannot speak up because any mention of it is deemed discrimination.”
California’s current laws highly protect the rights of transgender individuals, allowing individuals to use public facilities based on their gender identity, including locker rooms and restrooms. California practicing lawyer Tsai Wenhui mentioned that commercial establishments cannot deny transgender individuals the right to use facilities or require gender identity proof, making the response from the gym staff absolutely “politically correct.” However, she also pointed out that some unscrupulous individuals may take advantage of these regulations for inappropriate behavior such as voyeurism or harassment, and venue managers should actively prevent such misconduct.
Tsai Wenhui believes that while respecting the law, emphasis should be placed on the safety and privacy of public facility users, improving relevant policies to reduce conflicts arising from cultural differences and conflicting interests. To balance “gender equality” and user safety, gyms may consider providing separate transgender locker rooms to meet the needs of different customers.
Chen expressed her helplessness, stating that she will have to be more cautious when going to the gym in the future. However, the so-called concepts of “gender equality” and “anti-discrimination” have left her feeling confused. In the past, her conservative friends often criticized “radical sex education” for having a negative impact on teenagers. Now, having experienced it firsthand, she cannot help but rethink the public safety risks posed by current California gender diversity laws and the kind of “confusion” in values the next generation will face.