Colleen Francis
Transgender woman told to leave women’s locker room
KIRO: A transgender woman said she was discriminated against after using the women’s locker room at Evergreen State College.
Colleen Francis was using the sauna in a women’s locker room inside the recreation center at the school late in September. The same facility is used by two high school girls swim teams from Olympia, who also practice in the pool.
KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Deborah Horne spoke with Francis about the incident in which a woman told her to leave. “I looked at her and said, ‘Excuse me?’ And she said, ‘You have to leave, I’ll be right back,’” said Francis. “She wouldn’t identify herself. All she said was that there were a couple of girls that came upstairs to the pool, and said that there was a man in the sauna.” Francis, who acknowledges she was born a man, said she lived as a woman since 2009.
Someone still called campus police, and local parents heard about the incident. “They’re uncomfortable with him being in there, her, being in there and are shocked by it,” said parent Kristi Holterman. Holterman’s daughter was one of the swimmers and complained to Evergreen.
Officials at the school told KIRO 7 that they have been working with the Olympia School District, which leases space at the pool. According to state law, it requires equal access to state facilities regardless of gender identity.
Local school officials said they came up with a temporary solution. “There’s a smaller locker room next to the main locker room at the pool, and they (the swim teams) have been using that,” said Ryan Betz, a spokesman for the Olympia School District.
Francis believes the students need to be informed. “This is not 1959 Alabama. We don’t call police for drinking from the wrong water fountain,” said Francis.
A parent told KIRO 7 that she is more concerned that her daughter and teammates have a safe and comfortable place to swim.
Drinking from a water fountain is hardly comparable to a male, who believes he is a female, exposing his male genitalia in a women’s sauna where there are minor children.
But in this PC-infested world, the right to dress as a woman and expose your male parts in a ladies restroom trumps the rights of underage children I guess. I believe if this male truly wants to be a woman he should remove his penis. Man up and be the woman you believe you truly are!
DCG
I would be happy to volunteer to remove it for him, her, it and chuck it in the trash. Disgusting and she, it, him should have no rights until it decides what it wants to be gender wise.
The only future I see for Francis is in a freak show in a 2 bit carnival..This creature’s rights end at the door of the Ladies room.
Do these people think they are attractive? Ugh!!!
YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHING YET, AMERICA!
TRANSGENDER – SAME SEX MARRIAGE 2012
DIFFERENT SPECIES MARRIAGE 2020?
MAYBE AMERICA NEEDS SHARIA LAW!
That’s what left/libtards and islamists want us to think (left/libtards hoping they can used islamists and islamists knowing they’ll jail and/or execute all those usefull idiot left/libtards when they take overe).
Colleen Francis is a mindless twit who needs far more social awareness before s/he attempts public interactions. Clearly s/he is still too confused about its selfhood to be trusted to behave appropriately. Until then, s/he needs to avoid interactions that would disturb 99% of us. I could accept ‘Colleen’ in the Men’s room, as s/he has hair not much different from some other males, but never in the Women’s room.
Where is Lorena Bobbit when you need her!!!!
You just took the words out of my mouth, Ginny! Franni-boi needs some tips from useless idiot Anthony Weiner…don’t flash in public?
It’s hard to take any of your real concerns seriously, when you fail to even use the appropriate pronoun for this woman. It’s disrespectful and cuts off any honest dialogue. Then saying she should have genital surgery is just down right none of your business! Would you tell a female-bodied woman that she needs to fit a stereotype to be accepted, then why should a transwoman. Many do feel this helps them lead the lives they want, and if not – more power to her! She didn’t do anything wrong other than live her life. It’s surprising how much people may be willing to work with you on your concerns (here young girls seeing a penis), when you treat them with respect.
It’s hard to take call this person a woman when he has a a penis. You want to be a woman? Grow a pair of ovaries then.
Stereotype of a woman? Can’t change the biology of a woman.
Hard to take one seriously when they compare their plight of exposing their penis to “drinking out of a water fountain” with no respect for the rights of minor children.
Read Romans 12 vs 2…….
Good retort, Ginny!
Romans 12:2: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
I am saddened that some people would level insults at people they have never met. “pea sized brain”? “mindless twit”? How can you feel you know enough based on one short interview to say such hurtful things to a real person?
We who are lucky enough to have a body that matches the gender we feel ourselves to be have privileges we probably take for granted. What would you do if you woke up tomorrow with different genitals? Would you feel any different inside? If you are a woman and woke up with a penis, would you feel safe using a men’s restroom? Would you feel safe if someone volunteered “to remove it for him, her, it and chuck it in the trash.”?! Such threats of violence and actual violence is something that transgendered people face every day.
I encourage you to get accurate information about transgender issues before making assumptions. One website you could visit is http://www.gabiclayton.com/gcresource_gender.htm
Colleen is not just cross-dressing: she has had therapy, has been approved for hormone treatment and has been taking it for months or years, and even got her driver’s license changed to reflect her female gender. Many transgendered people would like to have surgery to have their genitals match their self-perceived gender, but that costs tens of thousands of dollars. Are you volunteering to pay for it?
I can understand that some females are uncomfortable around someone with a penis, largely because our culture has conditioned men to be sexually aggressive and often makes excuses for men who commit sexual harassment or rape. Let’s change those parts of our culture so we no longer see everyone with a penis as a potential rapist.
Why should I volunteer to pay for this person’s surgery? With Obamacare coming, I’ll soon be paying for it.
I don’t know what culture you live in yet mine doesn’t view one as men to be sexually aggressive nor would I ever excuse rape or sexual harassment. Course I guess that changed when this country re-elected a well-known womanizer who redefined “sexual relations” for us.
I’m not magically going to grow a penis overnight so that is a mute point. I understand transgender people have issues. So do minor children, especially teenageers going through puberty. I am saddened that you make the conclusion, from such a short interview, that the minor children who felt “uncomfortable” believed they were in danger of potentially being raped.
Course this person’s “rights” trump any minor childrens’ rights. As well known, the direction of the liberal platform fits in well with the Communist goals:
Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
Get control of the schools.
Infiltrate the press.
Eliminate all laws governing obscenity.
Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.”
Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
Discredit the family as an institution.
Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents.
Heaven forbid the mothers of these two minor children who felt uncomfortable with a man in the women’s sauna have a say in expressing their need to protect their children.
If you are not afraid of Colleen raping the girls, what do they need to be protected from? The view of a naked human body in a locker room? I assume that public high schools still teach sex education, and that the girls have seen diagrams of penises and vaginas. Why is it violating the girls’ rights for Colleen to be naked in a locker room but it would not be violating Colleen’s rights to either require her to use the men’s sauna or deny her access to the saunas?
The minor children felt uncomfortable. That’s all a mother needs to hear. It’s a parents decision to decide how to best protect their children – not Colleen’s, not yours, not mine.
Whey should the girls have to be exposed to a strange man’s private parts? Yes, they teach sex education. Doesn’t mean they are required to view a man’s penis in a women’s sauna. Think back to when you were a teenager, you really want to be hanging around a sauna with a full grown strange man? Um, no thanks.
I understand Colleen has rights as a transgender. But her feelings are not the only ones in play here. Why are her feelings more important than the minor children? I believe the rights of minor children and their parents’ right to protect them are more important in this case.
Then what is your solution? Deny Colleen access to the sauna? Force her to use the men’s sauna?
The parents have the option for the children to use the smaller locker room. They are not being forced to use the same locker room as Colleen.
Evergreen found a solution and the swim team can use the smaller facility so the minor children don’t have to be exposed to a strange adult male.
My solution would be that one use the appropriate facility to match their physical being.
Why are we allowing a miniscule small numerical minority intimidate and dictate their wishes and perversities to the majority?
America has now reached the point of Alice-through-the-looking-glass land, where self-proclaimed “victims” use their alleged victimhood to intimidate and bully the rest of us. There should be a word for the opposite of “victim” because that’s exactly what people like Colleen are.
Spot On Dr Eowyn… The rights of the majority are being violated by this he/she creature.
“What would you do if you woke up tomorrow with different genitals? Would you feel any different inside?” Well, I sure in the heck wouldn’t go strutting around in my birthday suit in front of underage children of the opposite sex. That would kind of make me a pervert and a lawbreaker, wouldn’t it??
Dude (or Lady, whichever), the equipment matches to bathroom. Nothing personal. Please just use the one your plumbing matches. When you change your stuff, you can go in the other one. ‘Nuff said.
I can’t take much more of these freakazoids.
As a libertarian, I believe in live and let live, but I have my limits.
-Dave
These comments make me so sad. I used the men’s bathrooms until I was told I didn’t belong in there. Then I used gender neutral bathrooms until the day I urinated on myself in my car while trying to find one. I’ve used women’s bathrooms ever since without issue. I would never want to make someone else uncomfortable. I’m a nurse, my job is to make people feel better and I’m great at it. I want surgery, and I plan on having it as soon as possible, but we are required to live in the female social role for a year prior to having surgery. Then there is a waiting list. Then there is the cost. I can afford it, I want it, I’ll get it, but there are some that can’t afford it, there are some that are not willing to risk being rendered unable to ever have sex again, there are some that are afraid of it, there are some that just plain don’t want it. What if someone forced you to have surgery you didn’t want just so you could have something else that kept you from feeling suicidal? I know Colleen. She has always been a wonderful person around me. I’m sure she didn’t mean to hurt anyone. We often bend over backwards to try and fit in without hurting others, but no matter what we do there will always be those that hate us and want to see us dead. That’s just so unfair to want someone else dead so that you don’t feel slightly uncomfortable. I’ve felt horribly uncomfortable my entire life, but I’ve never wished anyone dead because of it.(Except for myself.) As far as pedophilia and the other comments, statistically, the most likely perpetrators of those horrible acts are cis gendered, heterosexual men. They like to point at us and say we are that way, but I can’t find a single incidence on the internet of a trans woman commiting such a horrible act. As far as being nude in front of others, I don’t do that. I’m quite the prude and even more so since transitioning. I hated the open locker rooms and showers as a man, and even more so as a woman. Just because Colleen is more accepting and open about nudity doesn’t mean she should be hurt for that. If she was in the sauna there is no reason that any of those girls should have been in there with her to even see her. Someone coming in and telling her she had to leave because people were going in an area she had no reason to believe they would enter was uncalled for and indicative of the priviledge that cis gendered people feel they have. “I’m better than you, so I can order you around.” Well, I challenge anyone on this forum to stack their life up against mine and see who has lived their’s more closely to Christian principles. Have you ever saved the life of someone that tried to kill you? I have.
Miranda,
Thanks for informing us about the difficulties you have being a pre-surgery transsexual. However, trannies are NOT the only people in this world who have difficulties; I don’t know anyone who doesn’t experience difficulties. There are many people who have very severe physical problems (handicaps, illnessese) much worse than your and Colleen’s sometime predicament of finding a public restroom/toilet. So please don’t make yours out to be uniquely dire or yourself as having been singled out for victimhood.
It is that victim mentality that probably leads you to make this OUTRAGEOUS, TOTALLY UNFOUNDED assertion: “but no matter what we do there will always be those that hate us and want to see us dead. That’s just so unfair to want someone else dead so that you don’t feel slightly uncomfortable.”
HOW DARE YOU? Show me where DCG’s post or a commenter on “this forum” wants to see you dead. With your OUTRAGEOUS accusation, you have discredited your entire comment.
Speaking for myself, I don’t hate you. Good grief, I don’t even know you or Colleen. But I agree with DCG that if you’re anatomically a male (a penis), you should use the men’s room. Why is that simple concept so difficult for you? But you self-imagined VICTIMS simply must have YOUR way, and what society thinks be damned. How selfish and narcissistic of you.
I’m sure you know this…but that was not from me Doc!
Hahaha…I was puzzled at first…then I noticed your red and yellow flower was missing and I knew all was well!
Hahaha….I was too when I saw my name on the Recent Comments list.
Of course I knew! Not your flower gravatar!
Besides, we all know “our” Miranda isn’t a trannie!
Just wanted to make sure! Hehehe! Thanks!
“I would be happy to volunteer to remove it for him, her, it and chuck it in the trash.”
If you’re a doctor, please tell me what would happen to a person that had their genitalia removed and thrown in the trash? This doesn’t sound like a medical procedure. It sounds like an attempted murder. None the less I was talking about the fact that people that don’t understand my plight seem to want me and people like me to cease to exist.
As far as what bathroom I use, I use the women’s bathroom because I was threatened and told to get out of the men’s room on more than one occasion and there aren’t enough gender neutral bathrooms. The very attitude shown by calling me a tranny is indicative of the hate and revultion I get when I walk in a men’s room. That is a derogatory term and I’m sure you know this. You are using it to hurt me and for no other reason.
Yes, there are people with worse issues in their life. I take care of them every day as a nurse. That doesn’t make my problems seem any less difficult to me when I’m sitting in my own urine because I couldn’t find a gender neutral toilet. I don’t judge them and talk about how disgusting they are. I show them understanding and try to make them more comfortable in any way I can.
I would love to meet you in person in a public place. We could walk into the bathroom together and you would see how awkward and uncomfortable that makes people feel. I’m sure you would not want me standing at a urinal next to you. I have many wonderful and loving female friends that accept me as female and would be apalled at the suggestion that I should use the men’s room. I walk into the women’s bathroom with them and use the facilities without issue and without making them uncomfortable. You have a very narrow minded and illogical view of the situation. To call me selfish and narcissistic when I have dedicated my entire life to helping others and have had periods of self loathing so bad that I was suicidal is rediculous. I am neither of those things.
Knowing Colleen as I do, I find it difficult to believe that she purposely tried to put herself in a position to be gawked at or to gawk at others. It’s not in her nature to do so. This sounds more like someone trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. She isn’t a threat to anyone and I personally wouldn’t have an issue with my daughter sitting in the sauna with her much less sharing a locker room.
Not your daughter nor your place to dictate how a minor child should react to seeing a strange naked adult male in a women’s sauna.
Gosh, so “trannie” is derogatory? I thought it was cutsie. I won’t use that term around you again ’cause you are way too sensitive and easily offended.
As for “standing next to a urinal next to you” — no thanks. Not the least of the reasons is that I don’t pee standing up. You see I am a full-fledged female. Who’s doing the judging and negative stereotyping now?
Thanks for the laugh.
I would say more, but then I’d just be repeating my previous comment to you, except this:
By your constant “poor me” whining and hyper-sensitivity to every word, said or said, and by your insistence that the whole world must change to accommodate you –
You ARE selfish and narcissistic.
No, trannie isn’t “cutsie” and I’m sure you knew that. I’m not hyper sensitive. Would it be hypersensitive for you to be offened that I thought you were a man? No, it wouldn’t. I apologize for that. It can be hurtful to be misgendered, I didn’t mean to do that.
I spent most of my life trying to avoid transitioning because of the negative stereotypes. I lost almost everything when I transitioned. It had come to a point where it was transition or die. I looked into having a frontal lobotomy when I was diagnosed. I had actually hoped I had a brain tumor, or schizophrenia. I was willing to become an emotionless zombie so I could stop feeling so wrong every moment of the day. I couldn’t find a physician willing to do the procedure.
Since transitioning I have been able to conduct activities of daily living. I am a productive member of society. I have moments of happiness. They were quite foreign to me at first.
It bothers me when people misunderstand my motives and make assumptions about me based on unfounded prejudice. Wouldn’t that bother you. Hypersensitive? No, just normal sensitive.
“Would it be hypersensitive for you to be offened that I thought you were a man? No, it wouldn’t. I apologize for that. It can be hurtful to be misgendered, I didn’t mean to do that.”
I wasn’t in the least offended. I thought it was very funny. And I accept your apology.
Once again — and this is the LAST word I’ll ever write to you, as is this the LAST time your comment is published on FOTM — DCG’s post isn’t about bashing transsexuals. This post is about whether it’s reasonable for a pre-op man with male genitalia to use a public restroom for females, especially when little underage girls also use the restroom. You’re the one who expanded and morphed this into “America persecuting all transsexuals, especially Miranda” — which I most certainly do not support or approve of. I’m sorry you were near-suicidal. I hope your having “transitioned” will continue to make your life easier and happier.
Peace.
This man who goes by the Colleen has NO RIGHT to view my little girl naked or to expose himself to my little girl. What is so hard to grasp, sir?
A little melodramatic aren’t you? Where on earth in this article did it say that anyone (or I) wanted to see Colleen dead?
“Just because Colleen is more accepting and open about nudity doesn’t mean she should be hurt for that.” Why should minor children that are uncomfortable with being around a strange nude male be hurt for that?
I don’t need to “stack up my life” against yours to prove I am a better Christian. Nor do I need to brag about the good deeds I’ve done. The only one that cares about how good of a Christian I am is God.
I think that those who discriminate against anyone, no matter what their issue may be, will have a very sad day when they face God and he asks, “Did you love your neighbor as you loved yourself?”
I wasn’t there when the girls saw Colleen. I’m not sure of the context. I’m no longer in contact with her so I can’t ask her. I did spend a lot of time with her in the past though, and I can say that I find it hard to believe that she would purposely put herself in a position like this. It sounds like she was using the sauna and people went in that had no reason to, and then complained about something that they had caused, but like I said, I wasn’t there. Then again neither were any of you. Judge not lest you be judged.
Thanks for the preach.
The mother of the minor child complained because her daughter was uncomfortable seeing an adult naked man in the women’s sauna. Good grief, why doesn’t this mom have a right to look after the feelings of her minor child? Any mom would want to alleviate the concerns of their child and make them safe.
“Judge not lest you be judged.”
Hey, Miranda! The first rule of logic is not to be self-contradicting. Judging us is EXACTLY what you have been doing on FOTM, which means you are in violation of your own commandment.
On the one hand, I can see the point of a naked trans woman in a sauna, and the problem of people reacting to that. Especially as they were young girls, of course they wouldn’t react well to that. She should have had more sense than to have done that, it was foolish.
On the other hand, a trans woman using a female rest room is a different thing. People on here are saying if some one has a penis they should use a male restroom, why? They’re not getting naked, they are using a cubicle to relieve themselves. A lot of trans women would be abused if they went into the mens. Trans women often have the appearance of cis women, and it would be ridiculous not to use the womens, and everyone has a private pee area so why is that a big deal? I’ve never noticed a trans woman in the restroom, but I don’t think I would have a problem with that. However, I think young girls walking into a sauna and finding a trans woman with her bits out is different. She should have more sense in the future I hope.
Yo, Hardnox, that is a VERY good point. Wish I’d thought of it, but hey, that’s why you’re here!
“If you have a penis, you are still a man”
True. Even if a man cuts off his penis, he is still a man.
I have no problem with how people chose to live their lives, but I am disgusted with Colleen Francis on how “she” conducted herself. If “she” feels that out of place changing in front of those with the same genitalia as “her” self, then “she” should have took the same courtesy for the other girls regardless of their age. Colleen Francis’ actions on this matter have been completely selfish, claiming to being discriminated against by not having the option to change somewhere away from men and uses it to justify taking the same right away from others, in this case children. There is nothing wrong with wanting to protect your own rights, but doing so should not give anyone the right to take it away from others! All she had to do to prevent this from happening in the first place was show a little respect for others and some common decency (like an adult) and covered “her” male anatomy as to avoid such an uncomfortable and potentially harmful (mentally) experience to the young girls around “her”. Colleen Francis only took into consideration “her” own feelings. Women are suppose to be more understanding and considerate and yet “she” doesn’t show any of this. Colleen Francis is more like a selfish small child rather than the woman “she” claims to be.
Update: ‘Transgender’ man may continue using girls’ locker room, says college. A Washington state college has decided it will not prevent a 45-year-old man from lounging naked in a women’s locker room, in an area frequented by girls as young as six. Joe Wheeler of the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office said he will not prosecute the matter as indecent exposure. Instead, the college set up curtains that the girls were instructed to change behind. Man, if I was a mom, I’d be keeping my girls out of that place!
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/transgender-man-may-continue-using-locker-room-with-six-year-old-girls