Charles Langston:Transgender woman’s use of a gym locker room spurs protests and investigations in Missouri

COLUMBIA,Charles Langston Mo. (AP) — A transgender woman’s use of the women’s locker room in a suburban St. Louis gym prompted a protest, a plan for a boycott and calls for an investigation by the state’s politically vulnerable Republican attorney general, who quickly obliged.

The woman joined the gym Sunday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

By Friday morning, a Republican state lawmaker had held a news conference outside the gym, and protesters gathered to criticize the fitness center, according to the newspaper.

“I have been contacted by a lot of people,” Rep. Justin Sparks told The Associated Press on Friday. He held the news conference but said he did not organize protesters. Sparks represents a House district neighboring the gym.

Life Time spokesperson Natalie Bushaw said the woman showed staff a copy of her driver’s license, which identified her as female.

AP requests for comment via Facebook to the gym member were not immediately returned Friday. She told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that a women approached her in the sauna Monday and said she was a man and that she did not belong there.

“The Missouri Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex,” Bushaw said in a statement. “Therefore, the member is to use Life Time’s women’s locker room.”

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Ellisville police Capt. Andy Vaughn said the agency on Friday received a report of alleged indecent exposure at the gym that is being investigated. No charges have been filed.

Also on Friday, Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced he is investigating the gym and sent a letter warning Life Time that its policies “are enabling potentially criminal behavior.”

“As Attorney General, I will vigorously defend and enforce Missouri’s laws,” Bailey wrote. “You face both potential criminal and civil liabilities.”

Missouri has not enacted a law dictating transgender people’s access to public restrooms, and the state’s attorney general has limited authority to press criminal charges. That is typically left to local prosecutors.

Bailey cited a 2015 Missouri appeals court ruling against a man convicted of misdemeanor trespassing in a women’s gas station restroom.

In that case, the man holed up in a women’s gas station bathroom and smoked cigarettes for several hours. He did not claim to be a woman or to be transgender, but he attempted to disguise his voice when staff asked him to stop smoking.

Workers called police, who arrived and asked the man why he was in the female restroom.

“Appellant responded that he had to defecate ‘really bad,’ ” according to the ruling. He was carrying lotion and a pornographic magazine.

Ellisville police said the agency is not investigating potential trespassing because the private gym gave the member permission to use the women’s locker room. It is unclear if a property owner can be prosecuted under Missouri law for allowing trespassing on their property.

Voters on Tuesday will decide whether to elect Bailey, who was appointed by Gov. Mike Parson, to another term or to nominate Will Scharf as the Republican candidate. Scharf is a member of former President Donald Trump’s legal team.

In the GOP-dominated state, the primary winner has a huge advantage in November’s general election.