Reply to I am Luis Fernandez - of Woodley suspension (in)famy

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Thank you all for your posts. I am really glad I posted. I'm going to update the page I created with some of what I say here so that it's easier to reference in the future by any of you or anyone else interested.

There are too many posts to respond individually to each, so I'm going to just respond to some themes.

1. One of the themes raised has been [b]whether I'm seeking attention[/b]. The short answer is yes. Here's the long answer:

In the first week after this event, I told very few people about it because I had stayed at the pool long after the meet had finished in order to face any potential consequences for having written the word &quot;boy&quot; on the meet sheets. When none of the officials - three officials closely involved in how things have unfolded stayed after the meet as long as I did, including one Woodley Board member - approached me, I assumed the whole affair was basically dead. And when a week passed with nothing happening, I wasn't thinking about it at all.

Then I learned about Woodley's decision to suspend ([url=https://neighborly-cause-f68.notion.site/Exchange-with-the-Board-245870d1735280a1beede1a9cf26bad6?pvs=25]Woodley Suspension&gt;Exchange with the Board[/url]). At that point my sole goal was to be reinstated. By Jul 23, I still had only shared the story with about ten people who were giving me advice.

On Jul 27, the WRA Board's letter made it obvious that the pool had no intention of treating me fairly ([url=https://neighborly-cause-f68.notion.site/Exchange-with-the-Board-245870d1735280a1beede1a9cf26bad6?pvs=25#245870d1735280f998abcc50373acd64]Woodley Suspension&gt;Exchange with the Board&gt;11 - WRA - Fernandez Clarifying Questions - 27 Jul 2025[/url]). At that point, I readjusted my focus and decided to take the advice of one of my close friends to take the story public. He asked me what I wanted to accomplish - I laid out the following objectives which are still accurate. They are in order from the goals I thought I could most effectively impact to least.

Goals
  1. Reinstatement to Woodley
  2. Changes to Woodley Board make-up, approach, and pool rules
  3. Enforcement of boys only in boys events and girls only in girls events at Woodley hosted meets
  4. Clarification of NVSL rules and policies to ensure all NVSL pools register their swimmers according to their biological sex and enforce rules around sex differentiated events
  5. End gender abuse

My continued public presence is intended to only have limited impact on goals #1 and #2. The point of seeking attention is to try and impact goals #3, #4, and #5. This entire thread is focused on achieving #4 - even if some of you who disagree with me on the issue of so-called &quot;trans girls&quot; competing as girls can help, partially. If you also ask NVSL to clarify its rules, we'll all know what we are signing up for.

2. Another theme concerned [b]my focus on NVSL[/b] when the meet was run by Woodley.

The Meet Host cited NVSL rules when we were talking, so even if NVSL was not involved in this meet, each pool registered their swimmers and officials were instructed to officiate according to NVSL guidelines. Also since we have our kids on the Woodley Swim Team, we want to know what rules NVSL will enforce. Believe it or not, I don't want to have a repeat of this incident.

3. The question was raised (in different ways) [b]how should the sex rules be enforced[/b]?

I don't think we need adults to scan bodies. It'll be annoying, but it now seems necessary, that we will need pools to use a birth certificate or a walker ID to register their children. Other leagues require these kinds of government issued identification documents; I see no reason NVSL couldn't require the same.

4. Someone else defended me already, but on the issue of whether I was doing anything untoward with respect to [b]noticing that there was a boy[/b] in the event, I'll just say that you don't have to be closely inspecting something to notice that something is wrong or different or strange. I think people criticizing me for this are being silly and disingenuous.

5. Switching gears - some of you said that [b]I'm harming the pool I claim to love by keeping the pool in the public eye.[/b]

Yea, I think you have a point, and I did consider this before I went to the press and I continue to consider this problem. I'll say a few things:
  - I think the &quot;threat&quot; to the pool is exaggerated. I don't think there's good evidence showing that conservatives are especially violent, though I assume a lot of people have created a nuisance for the pool.
  - the pool acted in bad faith, first, and I had and continue to have limited recourse, if you haven't read through the [url=https://neighborly-cause-f68.notion.site/Exchange-with-the-Board-245870d1735280a1beede1a9cf26bad6?pvs=25]Woodley Suspension&gt;Exchange with the Board[/url] then I think you're missing a key part of the story.
  - I already made this point earlier, but once the pool effectively made the path to reinstatement very narrow, then it made a lot more sense to try to pursue the other goals on my list

6. I thought the best comments concerned [b]my act of vigilantism[/b]

- I actually agree with many of the statements made in this thread - I admit that everything I did after raising the issue with the officials was taking matters in my own hands. I also agree that I should face consequences commensurate with those actions. Note that I returned to the pool and stayed long after the meet was over precisely to face the consequences of my actions.
  - Here's the problem - at the meet, apart from asking me to leave the deck no one said anything. After the meet, no one said anything to me despite significant opportunity. A week later at a different pool, no one said anything to me. Even now, the Woodley Board isn't citing any of the acts of vigilantism being cited in this thread as the reason for my suspension! The Woodley Board is citing aggressive behavior - which NEVER happened. The consequences - complete suspension - don't match either the false accusation (aggressive behavior) or the actual crime (vigilantism).
  - I don't think speaking with the spectators was vigilantism. I deny that I embarrassed them - the three women were standing close together and there was no one else around. I do agree that it was outside my duties as a marshal - but that doesn't make it vigilantism. I was attempting to challenge their world view in the most effective way I could think of for the moment.
  - I think the only act of vigilantism that deserves consequences is writing the word &quot;boy&quot; on the meet sheets, but I still don't even think anyone knew I'd done that until I told the Daily Wire. I mention this in my account of the events, but the marker I used was horrible, so I still think that that little bit of vigilantism was remarkably impotent.
  - You are right that I think the deeper gender issue (#5 on my &quot;goals&quot; list, less so the fair sport issue - #3 and #4 on my list) is important enough to have attempted some vigilante justice.

OK, to wrap up my side, I want to respond to one of the posters who was kind enough to respond to my request for more substantive criticism.

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You were wrong about everything. You had zero authority to do what you did.

- long time swim mom who is against trans girls competing with cis gender girls.[/quote]

You seem to agree with me on the underlying issue; if so, how can I be wrong about everything?

I address my authority (or lack thereof) to act here: [url=https://neighborly-cause-f68.notion.site/Luis-Account-245870d1735280748806cf5d7ae6b97e?pvs=25#245870d1735280aca522fc1818feb449]Woodley Suspension&gt;Luis'Account&gt;Speaking to the Offending Team&gt;My Thoughts[/url].

I'd be interested to hear how you've handled similar situations or if you haven't encountered similar situations, how you expect to change the current landscape vis a vis &quot;trans girls competing with cis gender girls&quot;. For other readers, I suggest that you can avoid situations like mine by acting now and writing to your pool and league governing boards.[/quote]

Jeez, you seriously need help.

1. You cursed. You claim it could have happened but don’t think so…and someone else says it did. Their memory stands uncontroverted.

2. You wrote “boy” on the results on the sheet for all to see.

3. You criticized mom and grandma publicly.

4. You took matters into your own hands when you did not like the result of your reporting.

5. There is not even independent confirmation (not from you) as to this kid’s gender.
[/quote]

Luis, you wrote me: “You seem to agree with me on the underlying issue; if so, how can I be wrong about everything?”

I responded with the 5 specifics above. Since I took the time to answer you, please give me the courtesy of directly responding to every point I made.[/quote]

1. I agree that I should not have cursed. I was frustrated at the situation, but you are right that I should not have done that. Note that the only specific example of cursing comes from my own testimony - the Woodley Board has not provided any specific accusation about my language. Read or re-read the exchange.

2. I agree that was an act of vigilantism that should carry consequences - though as I pointed out above, I still think that no one actually noticed that. The Woodley Board certainly didn't mention it. If you read my exchange with the Board, you'll see that the first time they say anything specific about their accusation is in their public statement to the entire pool membership AFTER I went to the press. In other words, the Board is being much less forthcoming than I have been - I'd love to know if the posters in this thread reserve any criticism for the Board's actions.

3. I did no such thing. I am confident no one overheard me asking those three women my three questions.

4. Yes, I think I've addressed my motivation. At the end of this post I'll just say a few words about why I care so much about the gender issue.

5. That's true - I don't think we'll get it, though, and I've addressed my thoughts on this [url=https://neighborly-cause-f68.notion.site/FAQ-245870d17352800fbc32d9ffdbd8bba4?pvs=25#245870d17352809a96a3ed97fc2526b7]Woodley Suspension&gt;FAQ&gt;What if you are mistaken that the “boy” was in fact a girl?[/url]

So, I think you and I are actually not so far off. I think the big differences are that I think the issue (#5 in my &quot;goals&quot; list, less #3 or #4) justifies the vigilantism and I think the consequences leveled by the pool are disproportionate to that act - not least because the pool hasn't even identified vigilantism or the underlying gender issue as the reason for my suspension, but rather this bogeyman of aggressive behavior.

Thanks again for engaging me in this thread. It was useful to me to read the comments. I hope it's been useful to you to read my responses and to read each others arguments. I'll close with a few words on the gender issue.

Our bodies are sexed at conception - we cannot divorce our humanity from our sex. The impact of this fact, or assertion, is that anything that casts doubt on the reality of sex ultimately casts doubt on our humanity. A person that questions his own humanity cannot live an integral life, cannot have fulfillment, and is ultimately doomed - he knows not the purpose of his existence because his very existence is subject to doubt. For this reason, anyone who confuses a child, purposely or accidentally, needs to be corrected.

For those of you who asked the &quot;what if it were your child&quot; hypothetical - the answer is simple, I would correct the child's confusion gently whenever it comes up - &quot;no, mommy is a girl and you are a boy, just like me&quot; - and more firmly as I saw need to &quot;no, you can't wear a dress because boys use pants&quot;. Yes, that includes fighting through a child's tears - it is that important. No, I don't think the dress or the pants are that important - in our culture those articles of clothing are some of the markers for sex differentiation - I think the thing they represent, sex difference, is that important to affirm.

I may come back and see if there any new comments but I don't expect to post here after this monster post.

Cheers to all of you, I don't think this conversation ever degenerated!
Luis[/quote]

You publicly misgendered a female child, humiliated her and your family, subjected your pool to violent right wingers, and despite being told repeatedly that you were wrong on the facts, can’t accept you were wrong or accept the consequences for your behavior.

Your private, nonprofit membership club was right to kick you out for what you did. This isn’t the government. You don’t have due process or any “rights” beyond whatever is in the club’s Bylaws. Which, if they were written by a half decent attorney, will say they can kick out members who are disruptive to the club. Free association baby.

Other private, nonprofit membership clubs may share your views about gender being immutable and welcome men policing little girls bodies. The Knights of Columbus seem right up your alley.  But I’d doubt even the Knights would welcome this kind of toxic and unsportsmanlike behavior. [/quote]

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