An 82-year-old woman filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the city of Port Townsend, Washington, and the local YMCA, claiming she was permanently banned for speaking out against men using the women’s locker room.
The Center for American Liberty filed the lawsuit on behalf of Washington state resident Julie Jamin, alleging that the city and YMCA’s actions following the incident in 2022 were “unlawful” and “shameful.” In the lawsuit, Jamin asks that her ban be declared unlawful, that her pool privileges be reinstated, and that she be paid “compensatory, nominal and punitive damages.” (RELATED: High school uses $10,000 grant to hand out ‘chest binders’ at local Pride parade, stock LGBTQ books in library)
“To this day, nearly two years after the incident, Port Townsend and the YMCA have permanently banned Jamin from using their pools. Defendants’ actions against Jamin are unlawful and shameful,” the lawsuit states.
“If an 80-year-old woman reasonably believes she witnessed a crime being committed against a young girl in a women’s locker room, the government should gather all the facts to find out what happened, rather than quickly taking sides in an ideological political debate,” the lawsuit continues. “Defendants should not summarily punish Jamin for the comments she made in response to what she witnessed, or defame her for speaking out.”
🚨 Lawsuit Filed 🚨 Julie Jamin has filed suit against the YMCA and the City of Port Townsend not only to regain the ability to swim in city pools, but also to defend the safety and privacy of all women and girls. pic.twitter.com/zmCb3TVS5F
— Center for American Liberty (@Liberty_Ctr) June 12, 2024
According to the lawsuit, Jamin visited the YMCA pool in July 2022. She had been using the pool for nearly 40 years due to her “arthritis.” After swimming, Jamin headed to the men’s and women’s restrooms.
Once inside the women’s restroom, Jamin began to shower when she heard a male voice coming from the locker room. The man, later identified as “Clementine Adams,” was biologically male. According to the lawsuit, Jamin alleges that Adams, who was wearing a women’s swimsuit, was staring at “two girls, approximately 4-6 years old, both wearing swimsuits, getting ready to go to the bathroom” and helping one of them take off her swimsuit.
When Jamin noticed Adams was not wearing “any form of YMCA identification,” he confronted him, asking the biological male if he had a penis and telling him to leave the locker room. Adams, who was 80 at the time, accused Jamin of being discriminatory and banned him from the locker room, according to the lawsuit.
“Jayman believed he witnessed a crime occurring and, using as much voice as he could under the circumstances, told Adams to leave the women’s locker room. A YMCA employee quickly entered the locker room and Jayman asked the employee to remove Adams; however, the employee reprimanded Jayman for his ‘discriminatory’ comments toward Adams and immediately informed him that he would be ‘permanently banned’ from the pool for objecting to Adams being in the locker room,” the lawsuit states.
It’s unclear when the city and YMCA plan to respond.
