A San Francisco YMCA is finally putting some guardrails around locker room behavior after furious female members spent months complaining about a biological male allegedly parading around naked in women’s changing areas like it was his own private spa.
The Stonestown branch of the YMCA quietly rolled out new locker room rules after a years-long uproar surrounding a transgender member known as Sammy — and the policy shift is raising eyebrows across the Bay Area.
Under the new guidelines, YMCA members are told that “nudity should be discreet, limited, and brief,” a sentence that sounds less like gym policy and more like something drafted after one too many awkward encounters near the towel rack.
Members are also instructed to stay clothed or covered unless actively showering and to “respect privacy and personal space” in shared areas.
The new rules even specify that hair dryers are only for drying hair on your head — apparently a clarification management felt was necessary after complaints about bizarre locker room conduct.
The California Post reports the policy change came after sustained backlash from female gym-goers who said they felt uncomfortable by repeated nudity and extended grooming sessions inside the women’s locker room.
The controversy centered on Sammy, a transgender woman whose use of the facility sparked protests, petitions and heated confrontations among members. Critics claimed Sammy regularly remained unclothed in communal areas for long stretches of time, while supporters insisted the complaints amounted to discrimination against a trans member.
Several longtime members now say Sammy has largely disappeared from the Stonestown location since the updated rules went into effect.
But some women say the YMCA’s “please be normal” policy still leaves major questions unanswered. “‘So what are they going to do – having someone standing around monitoring the situation, saying ‘you’ve been naked too long?’’” member Susan Pete, 59, asked sarcastically.
Fair question. San Francisco may be many things, but adding “locker room nudity referee” to the payroll probably wasn’t in the YMCA budget.
The fight over the facility became a flashpoint in California’s broader gender-policy wars last year, drawing demonstrators outside YMCA branches in both San Francisco and Berkeley. One side demanded clearer boundaries and private spaces for women and girls. The other accused critics of intolerance and defended existing transgender access policies.
The YMCA has repeatedly pointed to California civil rights laws allowing people to use facilities based on gender identity. At the same time, the organization insists it’s trying to balance inclusivity with member safety and comfort — a balancing act that clearly wasn’t going smoothly before these new rules showed up taped to the wall.
Teen member Angelina Zhou, 17, said she supports transgender rights but still signed a petition demanding changes after experiencing what she described as an uncomfortable locker room situation. “‘Yes, it’s weird that he’s in the women’s locker room naked,’” Zhou said. At the same time, she expressed sympathy for Sammy, adding: “‘I don’t think he goes in the women’s locker room for his pleasure. I don’t think he’s harming anyone. He’s just in his own world.’”
That tension — between accommodating gender identity and protecting privacy expectations in sex-segregated spaces — has erupted in schools, gyms and public facilities nationwide. Policies vary wildly depending on the state, institution and political climate, leaving businesses scrambling to avoid lawsuits while ordinary members just want to change clothes without controversy.
For now, the San Francisco YMCA will just avoid the real problem and establish more rules for the normal patrons: less nudity, more towels.
