Politics

Biological Man Caught In Women’s YMCA Locker Room Doubles Down On Comparing Self To Lynching Victim

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Laurel Duggan Social Issues and Culture Reporter
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Christynne Wood, a biological male who identifies as a transgender woman, has once again compared objections to male use of female changing facilities to the lynching of Emmett Till.

A 17-year-old girl allegedly saw Wood naked in a women’s YMCA locker room in December, and her complaint sparked protests over the institution’s policy of allowing transgender people to use facilities according to their gender identity. Wood described the experience in a Sunday op-ed in the San Diego Union-Tribune, comparing it to the 1955 lynching of 15-year-old Emmett Till, who was killed by a mob after a white woman accused him of inappropriate behavior. (RELATED: Woman To Sue Hospital That Performed Sex Change Surgery On Her At 13)

“Please understand that the words of a white girl are taken so seriously by our society that they have led to the beating and lynching of people of color, such as Emmett Till in 1955, and this reality is always in the mind of people of color,” Wood wrote.

Wood made similar comments in January.

“I don’t know what’s in the mind of that child,” Wood told the Times of San Diego. “So there’s a movie out right now about how that kind of a lie and hysteria can lead to tragedy … The movie’s called ‘Till’ about Emmett Till. The lies of a person got that child beat to death and that’s just the kind of group [here] that would love to pull a stunt like that.”

Rebecca Phillips, the 17-year old girl who had reportedly seen Wood naked in the women’s facilities, said she was showering at the YMCA when she saw a naked male in the women’s locker room.

“I immediately went back into the shower, terrified, and hid behind their flimsy excuse for a curtain until he was gone,” Phillips said at a Jan. 11 city council meeting, according to Fox News. “When I asked the YMCA management what the policy was regarding transgenders, they confirmed that the man I saw was allowed to shower wherever he pleased.”

Wood praised the YMCA and members of the community for their support throughout the public blowback over the YMCA incident in the Sunday op-ed. Wood also disputed anatomical claims made by some critics; Wood denies being “anatomically male” and has said to have undergone vaginoplasty surgery.

Wood previously sued a different California facility for access to women’s locker rooms with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union in 2021. Wood had been using male facilities at Crunch Gym for nine years before adopting a transgender identity and requesting to use the women’s facilities; the gym rejected that request and Wood sued, eventually winning an undisclosed settlement.

Wood did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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