{"id":274172,"date":"2026-02-18T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/?p=274172"},"modified":"2026-02-17T22:43:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T03:43:42","slug":"california-lawmaker-fights-back-as-transgender-men-invade-womens-spaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/california-lawmaker-fights-back-as-transgender-men-invade-womens-spaces","title":{"rendered":"California lawmaker fights back as transgender men invade women\u2019s spaces"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>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&#8217;s privacy and safety amid rising incidents of biological males entering female spaces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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 &#8220;clarity and commonsense protections in intimate spaces where females deserve privacy and safety,&#8221; highlighting concerns from parents across the state.The bill addresses multiple reports of trans-identifying men violating women&#8217;s areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In July 2021, at Wi Spa in Los Angeles, registered sex offender Darren Merager was accused of indecent exposure in the women\u2019s section but was acquitted. Merager&#8217;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\u2019s locker room, captured on video by Gracie Hutson. The gym banned the individual, but Hutson stated, &#8220;There\u2019s way too much leeway for predators&#8230; I felt my space was violated, and I know many other women feel that the locker rooms and restrooms&#8230; are no longer safe.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Similar complaints arose at Gold\u2019s 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: &#8220;I felt violated. Nobody cared.&#8221; Susan Pete described a Muslim mother and daughter quitting after exposure to a naked man in the showers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Erin Friday of Our Duty USA supported the bill: &#8220;We need California to return to reality&#8230; You don\u2019t need to be a genius to figure out the predictable outcome will be demented males terrorizing females.&#8221; Democrats previously rejected a bill to bar male sex offenders from female prisons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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&#8217;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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":593,"featured_media":274173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[511],"tags":[4861,7186,456],"class_list":["post-274172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-gender-ideology","tag-lgbt-ideology","tag-transgenderism"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>California lawmaker fights back as transgender men invade women\u2019s spaces - IFN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"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&#039;s privacy and safety amid rising incidents of biological males entering female spaces.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/california-lawmaker-fights-back-as-transgender-men-invade-womens-spaces\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California lawmaker fights back as transgender men invade women\u2019s spaces\" \/>\n<meta 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