Trans student allegedly told by SDSU staff to get out of men’s locker room

SAN DIEGO — A transgender graduate student using the men’s locker room in the Aztec Recreation Center (ARC) gym at San Diego State University (SDSU) allegedly was told by ARC staff that “she” needed to leave the men’s locker room.

Graduate student A. T. Furuya identifies as a genderqueer and transmasculine — transmasculine referring to people assigned female at birth that identify as more male than female on a gender spectrum between male and female — and uses gender neutral (they/them/their) and masculine (he/him/his) for personal pronouns. On the afternoon of January 14, Furuya used the men’s locker room shower, and allegedly was told by another gym patron to “Get your titties and go across to the other locker room. That’s where the women are. And, if you don’t go, I’ll remove you myself.”

Thomas Negron, a witness to the incident, indicated that staff were informed of a locker room incident in progress, but didn’t call Campus Security when asked. “I looked at this ARC staff member, and they looked at me,” stated Negron, “and instead of saying anything or doing anything, this ARC staff member began to walk out of the locker room. And that’s when I shouted and demanded that this ARC staff member call security to remove this aggressor. And instead of doing that, the ARC staff member walked up to the aggressor and started speaking to him in a very apologetic tone, basically with the sentiment that he understood why [the aggressor] felt uncomfortable…and that’s when this ARC staff member turned around, looked at A.T. and told them to leave the locker room.”

Negron then stated he told the ARC staff member “If you don’t call security, I’m going to call security myself.”

“Because [the ARC staff member] didn’t move to call security, and I felt that we needed protection,” Negron continued, “I called the front desk, and the supervisor didn’t answer. So because I felt like this was a situation that felt really dangerous, I immediately called the [campus] security office.”

Both Furuya and Negron stated that two other ARC staff members joined the first one, that the group of ARC staff members repeatedly ordered both Furuya and Negron that they needed to leave the ARC facility immediately.

SDSU’s Communications Officer Greg Block provided a statement that said the university’s policy “supports” transgender students utilizing “recreation facilities, restrooms, locker rooms, programs and services in accordance with an individual’s gender identity and gender expression.” Block also stated, “Per Aztec Recreation Center policy, the transgender student in the incident on January 14 was allowed to be in the locker room and was not asked to leave the locker room by university or ARC staff. A person was asked to leave the locker room, but that was not due to that person’s gender. SDSU police also responded to the situation.” Block also stated that there is an ongoing investigation into the incident.

Christina Brown, the Associated Students executive director, was personally aware that Furuya and other trans students were having difficulties using SDSU ARC facilities. In the minutes of a March 25, 2014 meeting of the SDSU Transgender Student Policy/Facility Improvement Working Group, two items listed as discussed at the meeting were “ARC staff need education on transgender issues,” and “further discussion about longer term solutions to locker room/restroom inclusion issues.”

“I have to drive to campus, work out, drive home in my sweaty clothes and drive back to campus” wrote Furuya in a Nov. 12, 2014 email to Brown. “This gym is inaccessible to trans folks. My body has gone through some major changes and showering in any of the locker rooms is not a safe space for me, especially after the reaction I got at the pool from students, and I wasn’t even completely naked. Is there anything that can be done regarding the showering and locker issue at the ARC?” Brown responded to that email by asking, “Are you OK if I forward your original email here to my recreation staff that will be attending this meeting?”

Brown was also aware that Furuya has been using the men’s locker room since mid-December, as well as being aware there was at least one other incident involving Furuya. “I’m sorry to hear about your experience in the men’s locker rooms,” Brown stated in a Dec. 16, 2014 email to Furuya, “I will follow up tomorrow on the status of shower curtains in the men’s locker rooms. Hopefully those will be installed very soon.”

Brown was referring to how there are over a dozen unpartitioned shower stalls in the ARC men’s locker room, and only one partitioned stall that’s specifically designed for use by physically handicapped ARC patrons. Partitioning multiple shower stalls would mean that any patron in the ARC men’s locker room who either wanted to shower without exposing their body to others, or not want to see other male bodies while showering, would be able to.

Brown stated in that same Dec. 12 email “I will also discuss your idea of advising the front desk. Is there a regular time you usually use the ARC? I’d rather there be a consistent staff person for you to inform vs any student working at the front desk (for your comfort and convenience). Depending on whether you have typical hours or not could affect the best plan.”

“Christina Brown has been a helpful ally to the trans community and to me personally,” Furuya commented. “Unfortunately the university does not engage in the same fervent compassion as Brown.”

Negron believes SDSU’s intention as an institution “is to drag their feet.”

“The university spends a lot of time giving us lip service,” said Negron, “and pretending to be LGBT, and especially trans, inclusive — creating cute events and having officials come and speak to the public — but really when it comes to actually creating resources that support and protect transgender and other marginalized students, they have really dragged their feet and have taken a really long time…and in the meantime students’ lives are at risk.”

“This reported incident is disturbing and shocking, particularly in light of U.C. San Diego’s clear nondiscrimination policy,” Transgender Law Center Legal Director Ilona Turner stated in an email to LGBT Weekly. “In addition, both state law and Title IX prohibit discrimination against transgender or gender nonconforming students and require that transgender students be permitted to use school facilities consistent with their gender identity. The school would be well advised to take that obligation seriously and institute better training for its staff, for starters, or it could face serious legal liability.”

Transgender Law Center is currently representing Seamus Johnston, a former honors student at the University of Pittsburgh, in his sex discrimination lawsuit against the university over his use of the male locker room at the university’s gym.

The Department of Education, in an April 29, 2014 media release stated “Title IX’s sex discrimination prohibition extends to claims of discrimination based on gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notion of masculinity or femininity and OCR accepts such complaints for investigation. Similarly, the actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity of parties does not change a school’s obligations.”

Both Capt. Josh Mays, the Public Information Officer for SDSU’s Police Department, and Mark Zakrzewski, SDSU’s Associated Students’ Director, did not respond to requests by LGBT Weekly for statements.

Update. On January 20, 2015 A. T. Furuya attempted to obtain a copy of the SDSU Police incident report. “The campus police staff said that my request to get the report was denied because it was for internal records only.” The SDSU Police Officer responding to his request “said it was logged as an incident report and will not be released to the public because it was not a crime report.”
Furuya also stated the contact officer “was dismissive of my preferred name and addressed me by my legal name, said it was not a big deal. I said my preferred name is a big deal because it is part of my identity and the staff member responded by saying it was confusing to offer both.”