(The Center Square) – Illinois legislators and the Springfield YMCA offer different opinions on whether a violation of rights has occurred in the facility’s locker room.
The incident stems from a 16-year-old swimmer in Springfield who says the YMCA dismissed her from the swim team after she raised concerns about changing in the women’s locker room with a man identifying as a women.
After raising the issue several weeks ago, the Illinois Freedom Caucus, which consists of downstate Republican lawmakers, issued a statement calling out the YMCA for being deceptive.
“Instead of protecting themselves and their outrageous policies that allow biological males in the girls’ locker room, we call on the YMCA to do the right thing and protect the girls in their care by not allowing biological males in the women’s locker room,” the statement reads. “It is time for the YMCA to stop spreading lies and misinformation about [the swimmer]and her family and to apologize for their gross negligence and failure to protect young girls.”
In response, Lou Bart, the YMCA’s marketing and communications director, told The Center Square there is no issue.
“We find it absurd that a small group of Illinois legislators who are not our members and are not from our area would continue to spread accusations they fully know are not true while insisting that we violate settled Illinois law as part of their political stunt,” Bart said.
Bart said the YMCA followed “direction from the Illinois Attorney General’s office and the Illinois Department of Human Rights.”
State Rep. Adam Niemerg, R-Dietrich, told The Center Square that the YMCA is doing everything it can to try and get people to forget about what has happened.
“This is about protecting women’s sports. This is about making sure that biological males are not allowed in the locker rooms with women and young girls where they should have their rights to privacy,” Niemerg said. “I think the YMCA is just looking for this to go away, but we are not going to let that happen.”
While criticism of the situation has been characterized as a Republican issue, Niemerg said many Democrats agree with the concerns.
“I do think the other side of the aisle that there are folks over there who completely agree with us on this issue,” Niemerg said. “Unfortunately, there is such a progressive-leaning agenda going on in the House and the Senate right now that they are afraid to speak up.”
The father of the 16-year-old swimmer told The Center Square that they withdrew their membership, but only after their daughter was suspended for objecting to trans people in the girl’s locker room.
