WASHINTON, D.C.—Women’s Declaration International’s USA Chapter has submitted an amicus brief (otherwise known as a friend of the court) to the U.S. 9th District Court of Appeals in defense of Olympus Spa, a Lynnwood-based business currently entangled in a human rights commission battle.
WDI is an explicitly non-partisan feminist group created by women, for women, and led by a group of volunteer women dedicated to protecting women’s “sex-based rights,” its website states. The organization has been criticized for being “anti-trans,” or TERF in the past most notably by Southern Poverty Law Group who, in turn, has been criticized for being a “hate-based scam.” TERF is a derogatory acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist.
In June 2023, a Western Washington District Court judge ordered Olympus Spa to allow pre-op transwomen access to its female-exclusive facilities after a complaint filed with the Washington State Human Rights Commission (WSHRC). A rally in support of the spa commenced that July.
Olympus Spa, located on 196th Street near the Lynnwood Event Center, is fashioned after “Jjimjilbang” — a health and wellness facility where patrons are required to be nude in some procedures per its Korean-inspired tradition. Because of this, it has held the requirement for members to have female genitalia – a requirement held throughout its 20 years of operation. Transgender women are only admitted at Olympus Spa if they have undergone post-operative sex confirmation surgery.
Transwoman Haven Wilvich sought access to the Lynnwood spa in 2020 but was allegedly told that her request was declined because, “transgender women without surgery are not welcome because it could make other customers and staff uncomfortable.”
Wilvich felt discriminated against by this dismissal and took the issue up with the WSHRC in February of 2020. The commission then sent notice of the complaint to Olympus Spa in November of 2020. In March 2021, Olympus received a second complaint, this time requesting a written response by the spa owner.
In section two of WDI’s brief the organization makes the argument that Washington State cannot both enforce a public accommodation law that allows “naked men” to be in the presence of naked women and also enforce its criminal laws.
“If the District Court is correct that Washington State law requires Olympus Spa to admit naked men into a nude women’s spa it’s very difficult to see how the state of Washington, including local law enforcement agencies, can also enforce criminal laws that include voyeurism and indecent exposure,” Kara Dansky, President of the U.S. Chapter at WDI and Council in the amicus, told the Lynnwood Times. “We just wanted to advise the court and really encourage the court to consider that argument.”
Washington’s Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLDA), RCW 49.60, protects all people in Washington from unfair and discriminatory practices in employment, real estate transactions, public accommodations, credit, insurance, as well as health care whistleblower, and state employee whistleblower complaints. The statute further states that those protected under this law include, but are not limited to, gender (including gender identity).
Check out this interview with our president @KDansky! https://t.co/4bUGWLa2Tb
— WDI.USA (@WDI_USA) April 2, 2024
In the entirety of WDI’s brief the organization refused to refer to Haven Wilvich as a woman – her chosen gender identity. When asked if WDI was aware that Wilvich has since undergone bottom surgery and whether that designation still applies, Dansky told the Lynnwood Times: “That doesn’t change the fact that he’s a man.”
“Our entire society—globally, including the U.S. judiciary—appears to be gripped by the idea that there is a category of people called “transgender” who are somehow members of the opposite sex, members of a nonexistent third sex, or for whom the category of sex is irrelevant —even though most people know sex is real and relevant in various situations,” the amicus states. “One facet of this phenomenon is that laws are being amended to redefine sex (or, in the case of Washington state, sexual orientation) to include concepts like “gender expression” or “gender identity.” The truth that must be confronted is that sex is a material reality affecting many aspects of human life, even if some people claim to have identities that are different from their sex.”
The Washington State Human Rights campaign has already filed its response brief and the Olympus Spa appellants also can reply to the WHRC. At some point the 9th Circuit is likely to schedule oral arguments but as of now there is no way to predict the timeline imposed by the court, as far as whether the battle will move to trial or not.
The District Court of the Western District of Washington dismissed the plaintiff’s complaint and the plaintiff’s appealed.
According to Dansky these types of cases can take a long time to resolve so it’s unlikely to see any resolution in the short term. As far as how long, she couldn’t say but she added “we’re at least talking months.”
Danksy has been a “lifelong Democrat and political progressive,” she shared and spent a number of years in the progressive criminal reform community following law school including reform against mass incarceration.
In 2015 she joined an organization called the Women’s Liberation Front, an unapologetically radical feminist organization where she spent four years on its board. She stepped down in 2020 to shift her focus on the international efforts of what was later to become Women’s Declaration Internation (WDI).
“WDI USA thinks it’s vitally important that places of public accommodation, as well as schools, be able to maintain single sex facilities, including nude spas, including public bathrooms, including school bathrooms, locker rooms, all of those places where nudity and vulnerability is expected need to be single sex and that women and girls have fought for the right to have single sex spaces and we don’t intend to give them up,” said Dansky.
Typically, when submitting amicus briefs that ends an organization, or entity’s, involvement in a case but Dansky informed the Lynnwood Times that if the court were to request WDI involvement in the case further they would “respond appropriately.”
Author: Kienan Briscoe
2 Responses
Great article! Haven Milvich’s efforts to gain access to the women’s spa not only disrespects women’s rights, but show contempt for traditional Korean culture.
Most women agree with Kara and her organization, but they have been scared into being “kind” instead of honest. People who speak up lose their jobs, get kicked out of college, and/or get publically shamed. It’s time to stop capitulating to gender confused men and start standing up for the rights of women and girls.