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- Lynwood
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- Tacoma
Olympus Spa said it will appeal a federal court ruling that says it must allow pre-operative transgender women into its women-only facilities—a decision that has ignited controversy over gender identity rights, religious freedom, and cultural privacy.
The Lynnwood-based Korean spa, which also operates a location in Tacoma, plans to challenge the May 29 ruling from a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court found Olympus Spa violated the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD) by refusing service to a transgender woman who had not undergone gender-affirming surgery.
The judges rejected Olympus’s claims that enforcing WLAD violated its owners’ religious beliefs and freedom of association. Because the spa is a commercial business—not a private or expressive organization—the court said it must follow public accommodation laws.
Ninth Circuit Judge Kenneth Kiyul Lee, who is South Korean-born, issued a blistering dissent, warning that the ruling disregards both cultural context and privacy rights.
“Korean spas are not like spas at the Four Seasons or Ritz Carlton with their soothing ambient music and lavender aroma in private lounges. Steeped in centuries-old tradition, Korean spas require their patrons to be fully naked, as they sit in communal saunas and undergo deep-tissue scrubbing of their entire bodies in an open area filled with other unclothed patrons.”
Lee argued that these unique cultural practices justify separating patrons by sex and that the law should not compel women and girls to share intimate spaces with people who have male genitalia.
“Washington has perversely distorted a law that was enacted to safeguard women’s rights to strip women of protections. The women and girls of Washington state deserve better,” Lee said.