Ohio Man Who Identifies as Female Faces Charges for Being Naked in Locker Room While Young Girls Were Present

Ohio Man Who Identifies as Female Faces Charges for Being Naked in Locker Room While Young Girls Were Present
A police car in a file photo. (Mira Oberman/AFP/Getty Images)
Mimi Nguyen Ly
2/2/2023
Updated:
2/2/2023
0:00

A man who identifies as a female has been charged with public indecency for allegedly being naked while in the presence of young girls, in the women’s locker room of a YMCA in Ohio.

The man, Darren C. Glines, 31, of Fairborn, was charged with three counts of indecent exposure for three separate incidents spanning 2021–2022 that were reported by three different people.

Glines has not had gender reassignment surgery. He identifies as transgender and uses the name Rachel, local station WHIO reported.

Under Ohio law, public indecency is a misdemeanor of the fourth degree.

The three incidents occurred on Sept. 26, 2021, Nov. 7, 2022, and between Nov. 30, 2021, and Nov. 30, 2022, according to the complaint (pdf) obtained by the Daily Caller.

In the third incident, the person who filed the complaint reported that “at least three female juveniles were present when the naked man was in their vicinity.”

Glines “was identified by the reporting persons and the Xenia police were able to identify the identification via their investigation,” according to the court document.

The president of the Xenia City Council, Williams Urshcel, shared at a recent public gathering that one of the women that complained was told by the front desk at the YMCA facility that Glines “is actually a woman, and that you shouldn’t be disturbed by this.”

But a spokesperson for the city said Urshel’s comments were not authorized by or on behalf of the rest of the City Council, the city mayor, the city manager, and the law director. The city’s law department doesn’t plan to bring charges against the YMCA over the matter, the spokesperson added.

The YMCA of Greater Dayton told WHIO in a statement that it will comply with legal mandates but also continue to protect the privacy and safety of its members.

“Under no circumstance will we investigate an individual’s birth identity and then assign individuals to locker rooms,” the statement reads. “That would be counter to the law, counter to respect for all people and it is not who or what we are as an organization.”

The YMCA of Greater Dayton told Dayton Daily News that non-discrimination laws in Ohio allow people to use facilities that align with their gender identity. It added that locker room guidelines in its facilities ask people to “remain properly covered while in public areas of the locker room.”