California Assemblywoman Leticia Castillo has introduced a bill to mandate sex-separated bathrooms, locker rooms, and changing areas in businesses like gyms and spas, aiming to protect women’s privacy and safety amid rising incidents of biological males entering female spaces.
The legislation, announced on February 17, 2026, requires facilities to be separated by sex while allowing single-occupancy gender-neutral options. Castillo emphasized the need for “clarity and commonsense protections in intimate spaces where females deserve privacy and safety,” highlighting concerns from parents across the state.The bill addresses multiple reports of trans-identifying men violating women’s areas.
In July 2021, at Wi Spa in Los Angeles, registered sex offender Darren Merager was accused of indecent exposure in the women’s section but was acquitted. Merager’s lawyer, Elliott Tiomkin, noted California law permits access based on gender identity. Another incident at a San Francisco Planet Fitness involved a man masturbating in the women’s locker room, captured on video by Gracie Hutson. The gym banned the individual, but Hutson stated, “There’s way too much leeway for predators… I felt my space was violated, and I know many other women feel that the locker rooms and restrooms… are no longer safe.”
Similar complaints arose at Gold’s Gym, where Tish Hyman lost her membership after harassment by a trans-identifying male. At San Francisco-area YMCAs, members like Nuchine Nobari reported feeling violated by naked men in locker rooms: “I felt violated. Nobody cared.” Susan Pete described a Muslim mother and daughter quitting after exposure to a naked man in the showers.
Erin Friday of Our Duty USA supported the bill: “We need California to return to reality… You don’t need to be a genius to figure out the predictable outcome will be demented males terrorizing females.” Democrats previously rejected a bill to bar male sex offenders from female prisons.
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