It was a controversial ruling.
A federal judge in Washington delivered a strong dissent when he criticized his colleagues for requiring a female-only nude spa to admit transgender women who have not undergone gender reassignment surgery.
“This is a case about controversial decisions,” wrote US Circuit Court Judge Lawrence VanDyke in his dissent on March 12, disagreeing with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
“Sometimes, it feels like the supposed adults in the room have collectively lost their minds,” VanDyke expressed.
In response to a First Amendment case from Olympus Spa, the federal appeals court ruled against the spa, which has been embroiled in a legal battle with trans activist Haven Wilvich since February 2020.
Wilvich, who had not undergone gender reassignment surgery at the time, lodged a complaint against the spa after being informed that only post-op transgender individuals were allowed at the Lynnwood location.
Despite the spa’s objections, Washington state law mandates the service of transgender women, even if they have not undergone surgery, which VanDyke criticized as putting women and young girls at risk.
VanDyke criticized the decision, stating that the spa’s Christian owners, female employees, and clients did not want non-op transgender individuals at the spa, but were now compelled to accept them by Washington state and the Ninth Circuit.
“Yet if harmful and unfortunate consequences were all this case was about, we’d have to shrug and say: ‘That’s what comes with living in a democracy.’ Unless the Constitution is implicated, we get what we voted for ‘good and hard.’”
In 2021, the spa was found to have discriminatory policies by the state, leading to a lawsuit in 2022 to reverse the decision.
Neither Olympus Spa’s attorney, the commission, nor Wilvich responded immediately to requests for comment.
Additional reporting by Lois Weiss
