A Ninth Circuit Court of appeals judge likened a traditional Korean spa's female-only policy to racist "white only" laws.
"If you have a law that says, 'white applicants only,' this is 'biological women entrance only.' It seems to me they're quite parallel there," Judge Margaret McKeown said during a federal appeals court hearing in which Olympus Spa is challenging the state of Washington for mandating the admission of transgender women into the spa.
"And you can't have 'white people only' come into my restaurant, and then you say, 'Well, no, we have a religious, spiritual nature to our restaurant, and when you get there, we serve you special food.' This seems quite different."
The spa, which has locations in Tacoma and Lynnwood, cites the rule as "essential for the safety, legal protection, and well-being of our customers."
The policy is based on the owner's Christian values that demand "modesty between the sexes" and that "a male and female should not ordinarily be in each other's presence while in the nude unless married to each other."
It also has employees who "refuse to perform massages or body scrubs on naked men."
The spa was accused in 2020 of discrimination for denying services to a transgender woman who had not undergone sex-reassignment surgery.
"It is the spa's position that the women sharing in this cultural and spiritual experience have associational and free exercise rights," the spa's attorney, Kevin Snider of Pacific Justice Institute, said during arguments Monday.
"It's not really 'biological women are welcome,'" McKeown said, challenging Snider's interpretation of the spa's policy. "It means nonbiological women are not welcome. I mean, that's the reality."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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