A legal showdown over “gender identity” and religious freedom is brewing in Washington state after a federal appeals court ruled that a female-only Korean spa must allow pre-operative trans-identifying men into its facilities.
The controversial decision has sparked backlash from religious liberty advocates and women’s rights supporters alike.
Olympus Spa, a Korean Christian-owned business in Lynwood and Tacoma, has operated as a women-only establishment for years, requiring all patrons to be biologically female.
The spa argued that its policy is rooted in cultural tradition and faith-based beliefs, as its facilities involve communal nudity and intimate treatments.
The Washington Human Rights Commission (WHRC) took action against the spa after it denied entry to a pre-operative trans-identifying man.
The state claimed the policy violated anti-discrimination laws, demanding that Olympus Spa remove the phrase “biological women” from its website, undergo inclusivity training and permit individuals who identify as female—regardless of anatomy—to use its services.
In response, Olympus Spa filed suit, warning that enforcing this mandate would drive away both customers and employees, putting the family-owned business on the brink of collapse.
“Since inception, Olympus Spa has served women in their intimate spaces in a private setting,” the complaint read. “Customers have communicated that they will not return under such circumstances.”
A district court dismissed the lawsuit in 2023, ruling that the spa’s First Amendment claims were invalid and upholding the state’s anti-discrimination enforcement, according to The Post Millennial.
Two Clinton-appointed judges on the Ninth Circuit later affirmed that ruling, asserting that the state’s actions did not infringe on the spa’s religious freedoms.
Judge Kenneth Lee, appointed by President Donald Trump, dissented forcefully, accusing the state of weaponizing anti-discrimination laws against women.
He argued that Washington distorted legal protections for women in order to enforce radical gender ideology.
“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 wrote.
“Women—and even girls as young as 13—must now be nude alongside patrons with exposed male genitalia, and employees must provide full-body massages to naked pre-operative transgender women.”
Lee emphasized that the spa’s policy was not based on sexual orientation but on anatomy.
“The spa’s entry policy focuses not on sexual orientation but on whether an individual has male genitalia,” he wrote, arguing that Washington’s law does not explicitly protect trans-identifying individuals.
Kara Dansky, president of Women’s Declaration International USA, filed an amicus brief in support of the spa, warning that compelling female-only facilities to admit biological males violates women’s constitutional rights.
“The district court uncritically used the phrase ‘transgender women with male genitalia,’” she said, per TPM. “We filed to explain why that language is problematic.”
Olympus Spa’s attorney, Kevin Snider, plans to escalate the case further, contending that the ruling ignores the associational and religious rights of women sharing a deeply cultural and spiritual experience.
Legal experts say the spa is likely to appeal to the Supreme Court, potentially setting up a landmark case on the collision between state non-discrimination laws and First Amendment protections.
