ELLISVILLE — Dozens of protesters on Friday railed against a transgender woman’s use of the women’s locker room at a fitness center here, demanding a state investigation and threatening to boycott the business.
The crowd gathered in a bank parking lot next to the Life Time fitness center on Clarkson Road to hear from state Rep. Justin Sparks, R-Wildwood, and other lawmakers who say that their offices have been inundated with phone calls and emails from constituents concerned about Eris Montano, a 52-year-old transgender woman, using the gym’s women’s locker room.
Gym owners have said Montano did nothing wrong. But Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has said the state would investigate.
“Today we’re drawing the line — people that are biologically male, meaning that in their DNA and their chromosomes are male, should not be getting undressed in front of women and children in a locker room,†Sparks said Friday. His comments followed a chaotic, 11-minute press conference that at times devolved into a shoving and shouting match between protesters and counter-protesters, who chanted and blew whistles aimed at drowning out the Republican lawmakers.
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Police made no arrests.
Among those at the protest was Terrie Desloge, a Life Time gym member and a resident of ºüÀêÊÓƵ County. She said she welcomes transgender men and women to use the gym but believes they should use separate facilities.
“I don’t want my 14-year-old daughter to see a penis in the bathroom until she’s of age,†Desloge said. “I hate to be so blunt but that’s how I feel.â€
Supporters of Montano rejected the idea that she had done anything wrong.
“When I hear that, quite frankly, I think that we are moving backward as a country,†said Robert Fischer, a spokesperson for the state’s LGBTQ+ public policy and advocacy organization, PROMO, who attended the protest. “Separate is never equal.â€
Nancy Fish, of Wildwood, came with a sign that read, “Trans women belong here.†Fish said she welcomes the discussion over what happened at the gym.
“It needs to continue until all are equal and treated equally, even transgender women, especially here in western ºüÀêÊÓƵ county,†Fish said.
Friday’s events came on the heels of an announcement from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who said Friday morning that he is investigating the Minnesota-based Life Time fitness company over its policies about locker room access for transgender gym members. Bailey said that he believes Montano’s presence in the women’s locker room likely “constitutes criminal trespass†or “multiple sexual offenses.â€
“Your policies are enabling potentially criminal behavior, and I am writing to assure you that it will not continue on my watch,†Bailey said .
The gym has said that Montano did not violate its policies. Life Time’s members are assigned to locker rooms based on the gender listed on their state-issued photo ID. Montano is listed as a female on her Missouri driver’s license.
Ellisville Police Capt. Andy Vaughn said on Friday that the department is investigating a complaint that Montano had allegedly exposed herself to a woman in the locker room earlier in the week.
Montano has denied any allegation of wrongdoing. She said she wears a modest bikini when in the pool and sauna and that she only ever changes clothes while inside of the dressing rooms within the locker room. She also drapes a towel over the frosted-glass door of the single-person shower stall whenever she showers at the locker room.
“I’m not there to see anybody else,†Montano said earlier this week. “I am there to change clothes, and get the heck out of there.â€
Montano, who lives in Chesterfield, came to the gym on Friday but left before the news conference began.
“These people are loud, but I know they’re not the majority,†Montano said. She said she is “not even a little bit†worried about returning to the gym to work out or the women’s locker room.
Montano has been a daily gym-goer at Life Time since joining Sunday. She said she has largely had positive interactions with other gym members.
The lone exception, she said, was a confrontation with a woman in the center’s sauna on Monday. “She kept telling me that I was a man, that I didn’t belong there,†Montano said.
Speakers on Friday renewed calls for an investigation into the Missouri Department of Revenue, which issues driver’s licenses in the state.
State Rep. Holly Jones, R-Eureka, agreed.
“That someone can just fill out a form stating that they’ve changed their gender from male to female,†she said, “is absolutely an issue to investigate.â€