A YMCA swimming coach in Illinois accused a sixteen-year-old girl of “hate speech” for voicing concerns over a male claiming to be a transgender woman walking nude in the girl’s locker room.
Last April, Abbigail Wheeler, a swimmer on the Springfield, Illinois, YMCA SPY swim team, was alarmed when a transgender woman was allowed to use the same locker room as the girls on her team.
The girl brought her concerns to head swim coach Alex Totura, but he told her there was nothing he could do to stop it. But that didn’t end the controversy as shortly afterward, several parents organized to bring their concerns to the YMCA’s Chief Executive Officer Angie Sowle, Fox News reported.
16-yo girl banned from YMCA and kicked off her swim team for opposing a naked male in their locker room.
And to make matters worse, her older sister had to go through the exact same thing with Lia Thomas. But it’s “not really happening”….https://t.co/3cxtf6oldS
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) July 9, 2023
The parents requested that the facility change its policy and require trans people to use single-person bathrooms to change in.
Some of the girls on the team also allegedly began hanging signs in the women-only locker room reading “Women’s Rights,” “Biological Women Only,” and “Safe Sport.”
“‘SafeSport’ is a U.S. nonprofit authorized by Congress that is dedicated to ending physical, emotional, and sexual abuse in sports,” Fox News noted.
After the signs went up, though, Wheeler’s father said that coach Totura retaliated by saying the girl was engaging in “hate speech” and throwing her off the swim team. Totura allegedly told the girl she was “not allowed to participate with the swim team and was asked to leave the pool area,” her father says.
For its part, the YMCA claims the girl is lying and that she was never kicked off the team.
“The statement that the swimmer was removed from the Y and prevented from participating on the swim team is false. She left the swim team and the YMCA on her own,” said a spokesperson with the YMCA.
Still, the organization has rules preventing complaints about transgenders using whatever bathroom suits their fancy and has lashed out at such complaints before.
In Aug. 2022, an 8-year-old woman was banned from a YMCA in Port Townsend, Washington, for raising concerns about naked men walking around in the women’s locker room.
In Jan., a YMCA in San Diego went on the attack against a teen girl who was upset by a naked man seen inside the girl’s locker room. The girl was reportedly called a “bigot” by YMCA staff.
Also, in Ohio, a judge ruled that a man claiming to be a woman was not guilty of flashing girls in the women’s locker room of a local YMCA only because he was so fat his genitals could not be seen.
Former NCAA college swimming champ and women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines is now organizing to support the Illinois teen with a rally to be held on Thursday at Rotary Park in Springfield in cooperation with the Illinois Freedom Caucus.
Thank you @Riley_Gaines_ https://t.co/FHPuE4KHua
— Illinois Freedom Caucus 🇺🇸 (@ILFreedomCaucus) July 10, 2023
The Illinois Freedom Caucus posted a statement saying they were proud of Wheeler’s courage to share her experience publicly.
“What we are seeing here is a result of the radical left’s agenda to put young girls in harm’s way for the sake of catering to confused biological men who think they are women. In this case, a Springfield YMCA would try to silence and gaslight a high school girl, Abbigail Wheeler, for speaking up against men exposing themselves and watching her fellow teammates change in their locker room. Where are her rights? Where are her feminist activists at?” the legislators said in their statement.
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