2021 transgender rights controversy
On June 24, 2021, a woman posted a video to Instagram in which she had confronted staff at Wi Spa, a Korean spa in Los Angeles, about the presence of a nude individual with a penis, most commonly believed to be a trans woman, in the women's changing area of the spa. The video went viral, attracting significant attention from gender-critical feminists (also termed trans-exclusionary radical feminists/TERFs) and from some media, which led to protests and counter-protests. Some media outlets initially questioned whether the alleged incident had been a hoax.
On August 30, 2021, an individual, commonly reported to be a transgender woman, was charged with indecent exposure relating to the alleged incident after four women and one minor girl filed police reports in July 2021. The suspect had previously been convicted of indecent exposure in 2002 and 2003, being obliged to register as a sex offender since 2006 and convicted for failing to register in 2008. The suspect is awaiting trial on seven counts of indecent exposure, according to court documents from 2019. The suspect has denied guilt, claiming harassment over being a trans person.
On February 12, 2023, a judge ruled that the indecent exposure case could proceed, citing the testimony of two witnesses that the individual in question had a partial or full erection for a duration of "30 to 60 minutes" during the incident.
Background.
Traditionally, Korean baths and spas that carry the appellation "jjimjilbang" permit nudity within their gender-segregated areas, and are a "family affair". Wi Spa is a 24-hour, Korean spa located in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles. It has four floors: a women's floor; a men's floor; one mixed-gender, family-friendly "jjimjilbang" floor; and a rooftop, non-bathing floor. Wi Spa's policies for guests mandate that swimwear not be worn in the gender-segregated floors, while "proper clothing" is required in the mixed-gender floor.
Wi Spa has an "Equal Access" policy for customers that covers "age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law".
Incident.
A cisgender woman going by the name "Cubana Angel" posted a video to her Instagram account on June 24, 2021, alleging that Wi Spa had allowed a "man with a penis" to be nude in the women's floor of the spa, and specifically in the clothes-changing area. Angel, accompanied by two other women, confronted Wi Spa staff claiming "a man with a penis" was in the changing area and accosting staff for several minutes. During this time, Angel repeatedly mentioned the possibility of the individual's penis being exposed to children.
According to a subsequent news release from the Los Angeles Police Department, the incident occurred on June 23, the day before the video was uploaded.
In July 2021, it was reported that the unknown individual alleged to have acted in this manner had not been confirmed as a trans woman, but that the belief that they were had become common. During the incident video, a masked spa worker also seemed to assume the patron in question was transgender. Another customer questioned Cubana Angel if she was referring to a "transgender person", and she responded "There is no such thing as transgender." In a follow-up comment on the video, Angel posted "REAL WOMEN RIGHTS MATTER". On her personal website, she later said, over a week after the incident, that the individual was "a man who identified as a woman".
Spa response.
In a statement to "Los Angeles Magazine" published June 29, 2021, Wi Spa outlined its position: "Like many other metropolitan areas, Los Angeles contains a transgender population, some of whom enjoy visiting a spa. Wi Spa strives to meet the needs of all its customers." The spa pointed out that California Civil Code 51(b) and 51(e)(5) ( ;templatestyles src="Crossreference/styles.css" / ;) makes it illegal for the spa to "discriminate" against transgender and gender-nonconforming people.
(b) All persons within the jurisdiction of this state are free and equal, and no matter what their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments of every kind whatsoever.
(e)(5) "Sex" includes, but is not limited to, pregnancy, childbirth, or medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth. "Sex" also includes, but is not limited to, a person's gender. "Gender" means sex, and includes a person's gender identity and gender expression. "Gender expression" means a person's gender-related appearance and behavior whether or not stereotypically associated with the person's assigned sex at birth. — California State Legislature, "California Civil Code"
False accusations.
On July 3, Precious Child, a Los Angeles trans woman, a musician and activist, was falsely accused online of being the alleged person referred to by the incident video. The accusation spread quickly and she began receiving abusive messages, physical threats (including death threats), and accusations of pedophilia. Child said she had never visited Wi Spa and found the accusations of pedophilia "deeply hurtful," having been a victim of child sexual abuse. The woman who made the incident video posted later on Instagram that Child was not the alleged culprit. While the only notable individual example, other trans individuals in the LA area reported similar online harassment that ostensibly resulted from the incident.
In an August 6 interview with "On the Media", Lois Beckett, author of the original report in "The Guardian", paraphrased Child's experience as it was relayed to her, saying that the comments received by Child came from "different demographics". Specifically, "[Child] saw comments from sort of militia group types in the US, then from broader pro-Trump people in the US, then she said that like transphobic feminists in Germany and in Australia were weighing in".
Allegations of hoax.
On July 7, 2021, the "Los Angeles Blade" reported that anonymous sources from Wi Spa staff and from within the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) had cast significant doubt on the incident as described in the video. The Wi Spa source said that the spa's transgender clients are well known by staff and none of them were recorded as present in the spa the day of the incident. The LAPD source said the department could not at that time evidentially substantiate the incident nor find evidence of any transgender person's presence in the day in question inside Wi Spa. The "Blade" writer speculated that a "cisgender man" could have acted in concert with the woman in the video, recalling a 2015 incident in Washington in which anti-transgender activists had asked cisgender men to enter female-only areas as a form of protest.
According to "Los Angeles Magazine", on July 19, "several outlets have questioned whether the video was staged to generate outrage at a time when conservative politicians are weaponizing trans rights for political gain."
On December 19, 2022, "Los Angeles Magazine" published an interview with the suspect in which they repudiate the hoax notion, speculating that a lack of notoriety and paying cash at the Spa minimized their perception.
Political campaign by complainant.
On July 18, "The Intercept" reported Cubana Angel joined Cure America Action (citing her press conference hosted by the organization) in a campaign to repeal California's anti-discrimination law for trans individuals. This was reflected on the woman's personal website where she was calling for said repeal. Cure America Action is a Washington, D.C.-based, nonprofit organization that claims it "advocates for conservative principles based on Christianity, Capitalism, and the Constitution." Marc Little, a conservative pastor, lawyer, and the organization's executive director, was representing Cubana Angel.
Criminal charges.
During July 2021, four women and one girl filed formal legal complaints with the LAPD. In their complaints, the women alleged that they saw "male genitals exposed in the women's section" of the spa. Cubana Angel was the first to file such a report, on July 6.
On August 30, 2021, a 52-year-old individual, mostly reported as a trans woman, was charged by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office with five counts of felony indecent exposure in connection with the incident, corresponding to the five individuals who'd filed complaints in July. An arrest warrant was issued for said individual.
The suspect had previous convictions for the same offense from 2002 and 2003, becoming, as a result, obliged to register as a sex offender in 2006. In 2008, the suspect was convicted for failing to register as a sex offender. The suspect also had an open case from 2018, in which they have pled "not guilty" to seven counts of indecent exposure in front of women and children in a Los Angeles park. Regarding the 2018 case, the LAPD circulated an internal flyer which described the suspect as "homeless" and alleged the suspect "claims to identify as female" in order to gain access to women's locker rooms and showers.
In an interview with the "New York Post" published on September 2, 2021, the suspect denied their guilt, stating that they are the victim of "transphobic harassment" and are legally female. The suspect also said that they used the women's section of the spa facilities and were in the hot tub when she encountered Cubana Angel, claiming, "She [Angel] never saw me naked. I was underwater with water all the way up to my chest."
On December 13, 2022, the suspect was arrested and jailed, bond set at $350,000, with a court date of December 30. In a "Los Angeles Magazine" interview taken in September 2022 and published on December 19, 2022, after the suspect's arrest, the suspect stated to have come forward to the LAPD shortly after the incident, but was not taken seriously. The suspect again denied guilt, stated they were the victim of the situation, and that Cubana Angel "concocted" her incident narrative.
At a pre-trial hearing in February 2023, two witnesses attested that the suspect's penis had been erect. This was corroborated by the initial police report, filed by the witness known as Cubana Angel, which stated the suspect's penis was “partially erect.” A fourteen-year-old witness described the suspect's penis as “soft,” but added that she had never seen a penis before. The suspect spoke with a reporter during a court recess and was quoted saying, “Why weren’t the two dozen women in the spa indecently exposed? Only men can be indecently exposed, but women can’t? Only the penis is indecent.” The judge ruled that the case could go forward.
Incident virality and public reactions.
Since it was posted, the incident video progressively went viral, peaking most notably on Sunday, June 27, 2021. The video had increasingly circulated online on right-wing and far-right sites, as well as trans-exclusionary feminist spaces. Trans-excluding spaces included Mumsnet, Ovarit, and Spinster. Ian Miles Cheong, a conservative political commentator, posted two videos about the incident on June 27 via his Twitter account that reached hundreds of thousands of views. Andy Ngo, a controversial right-wing journalist, also posted on Twitter about the incident.
The controversy was discussed on Fox News beginning from June 28, with commentator Tucker Carlson featuring the story on his show that evening. Various right-wing media, including Fox News, "The Christian Post", "OneNewsNow", Blaze Media, "The Daily Wire" and RealClearPolitics, ran stories about the incident in a manner that Media Matters for America called "uncritically spread." Media Matters claimed the right was using a "disputed story" to "attack transgender rights." "The Guardian" called the manner in which right-wing media characterized the incident as "distorted".
The spa was review bombed on Yelp and Tripadvisor following the extensive public awareness of the incident.
LGBTQ reactions.
On June 30, KCAL-TV, a LA CBS affiliate, posted a story that quoted Bamby Salcedo, CEO of the Los Angeles-based TransLatina Coalition, who said the behavior of the woman in the incident video is not uncommon: "we experience this type of violence every single day of our lives." Salcedo stated that her behavior showed ignorance.
On July 5, "The Washington Post" listed multiple statements by LGBTQ individuals reacting to the incident: Zac Boyer, a manager at Stonewall Columbus, an Ohio-based LGBTQ organization, said the community wants to "preserve women-only spaces," but that "women have a variety of genitalia." San Diego Trans Pride organizer Jae Red Rose said of the alleged, trans spa-visitor: "She was within the women's section, which, you know, is exactly where she should be!"
On August 6, Julia Serano, an author and trans activist, said, while