How do you feel about a TG woman in the womens locker room?
Riya Suising is a business owner, a certified massage therapist and a marathon runner who lives in Palo Alto, California. She’s also a transgender woman.
After long runs, she said she often goes to spas to improve circulation and recover from tough workouts. But while visiting the Washington region late last year, her relaxing day at a local spa ended abruptly and she says "unfairly," when customers and staff accused her of being a man in the women's locker room.
Spa World is a Korean-owned, 24-hour facility, located in a Centreville, VA strip mall. Suising later complained about her experience at Spa World to the Better Business Bureau. It's the company's response to that complaint - which has activists feeling steamed.
Suising spoke with ABC7's Mike Conneen via Skype. "(A female staff member) called me a man because she said I had strong muscle tone. I'm not bulky but I am athletic because I'm an athlete... I work out. I try to stay fit. And maybe because I have slightly wider shoulders than other people," she said. "So based on that, (the staff member) asked me to leave."
When her gender was questioned by the staffer, Suising said, "I showed her my driver's license with the female gender marker and I said 'I think I belong here' and she says 'I'm sorry, I still need to ask you to leave.'"
Spa World's owner, Sang Lee, said he does not allow intoxicated customers or inappropriate sexual behavior but he acknowledges Suising never misbehaved in any way....
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/03/transgender-woman-files-complaint-on-centreville-spa-85844.html