Imperial Day Spa is a Korean bathhouse in San Francisco’s Fillmore district. Its facilities are separated by gender.
But last week, a video posted to Youtube showed an Imperial Spa employee telling a transgender man, Calder Storm, that their policy was to separate patrons by genitals.
“ If you have the woman genitals still, you go to the women's side and if you have the male genital, a penis, you go to the male side,” the employee is recorded saying to Storm.
The video sparked outrage online. The policy stated by the employee in the video is a violation of California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act. Storm filed an inquiry with San Francisco’s Human Rights Commission.
When protestors arrived at the spa on Monday, they saw two signs newly-taped to the door. One said they were closed for the evening due to plumbing issues. The other was a copy of their policies. Highlighted in yellow was the line: “Guests may use facilities that correspond to their gender identity in accordance with California law”.
Dozens of protestors, including Calder Storm, began to celebrate.
“ I think we made them nervous. If they really honor this, I would be happy to be a patron of this place.”
On Thursday, the San Francisco Human Rights Commission is expected to review the policies of another local bathhouse, Archimedes Banya, which has been under scrutiny for changing their "men's" and "women's" night policies.
