Xenia School Board members want to warn parents about YMCA’s gender inclusion

A group of Xenia Community School Board members are circulating a resolution that would direct Xenia, Ohio’s superintendent of schools to “warn” parents that the local YMCA permits transgender people to use locker rooms that correspond with their gender.

The resolution was on the agenda for the School Board’s October special meeting but was pulled without explanation before the meeting began. Even so, during the meeting’s public comment period, a representative from the lobbying organization and anti-LGBTQ+ hate group Center for Christian Virtue spoke in support of the resolution. A handful of other speakers also commented, citing unrelated incidents of sexual violence in other states that did not involve transgender people.

Board Member Tyler Scott also spoke in support of the tabled resolution and suggested using a different swim facility. To attempt to make his point, he brought up an incident that had nothing to do with Xenia, the YMCA or transgender people using restrooms. The incident involved an alleged sexual assault committed by a cisgender man at a Planet Fitness in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

“ I think we’re gonna get down to the bottom of this,” Scott said. “I think we’re gonna help protect our girls, ’cause until such time, I don’t know if my girls in this school district should be on the swim team until such time.”

Transgender and gender-nonconforming youth are more likely to experience sexual assault in restrooms and locker rooms than their cisgender counterparts, according to a study in the journal Pediatrics. The risk increases for trans students in districts with restrictive bathroom and locker room policies.

Xenia High School does not have a pool, so the high school’s swim teams practice and compete at the Xenia YMCA. In 2023, a transgender woman was found not guilty of indecent exposure for changing in the women’s locker room. 

The resolution was not presented during the district’s following regular meeting on Monday, Nov. 2.

The superintendent and the Board of Education did not respond to a list of questions from The Buckeye Flame. The Flame is currently waiting for the district to fulfill an open records request for more information.

The YMCA of Greater Dayton and Xenia YMCA did not respond to requests for comment about their policies.

Genesis of the resolution

Board Member Jeremy Cox drafted the resolution even though Gabriel Lofton, the school district’s superintendent, stated in an email that the district has no records of any “safety incidents occurring at the YMCA during school-sponsored activities,” according to emails the Flame obtained through an open records request.

Lofton also emailed Board members saying that he was unsure the communication would be helpful to parents, students or the district.

“Without specific data, documented incidents, or concrete parental concerns, it would be exceptionally difficult to communicate anything of value to families – much less justify altering our long-established partnership with the YMCA, which makes our swim program possible for XHS student-athletes,” Lofton said.

After the meeting, Dale Brunner – president of the YMCA of Greater Dayton, which oversees the Xenia YMCA – emailed Lofton “confirming there have been no additional incidents or issues at the Xenia YMCA related to the situation that occurred in 2022.”

The Buckeye Flame received a copy of the tabled resolution. Cox’s resolution, using inaccurate and harmful language,  directs the superintendent to officially inform parents that “pursuant to the Xenia YMCA’s policy, biological males may be permitted to access and use female locker rooms and changing areas.”

The night Cox’s resolution was added to the agenda and later removed, Board Member Joshua Day attempted to alter the resolution to remove references to the YMCA’s “policy” and state that “individuals whose biological sex is male have previously been permitted by the YMCA personnel to use female locker-room and changing facilities based upon gender identity.” 

Neither resolution made it to the public meeting.

In an email to Lofton, Brunner said the YMCA “does not have a specific policy addressing” gender-inclusive facilities. The YMCA is not subject to an Ohio law requiring students in public and private schools to use the restroom of their gender assigned at birth.

 “Our position has been that we must operate in accordance with applicable Ohio law,” he said. “As a chartered YMCA, we also have an obligation to comply with applicable laws and YMCA requirements to protect our standing as an organization.”

“Our priority has always been to provide a safe and welcoming environment for everyone who enters our facilities, and that commitment has not changed.”

The October 5 meeting

Ryan Folz, a legislative liaison with the Center for Christian Virtue, said during the meeting that “several Ohio residents” including in Xenia were “personally harmed by the lack of clear policies, instruction, and enforcement regarding bathroom use in YMCAs across our state.”

“Despite my organization’s efforts to pass laws that would do away with this ambiguity and inability to enforce gender-specific restroom policies in private businesses and organizations, we have not yet achieved the passing of the bill that would settle this issue,” he said.

Governor DeWine signed HB 183 into law in 2024, which requires individuals to only use the restroom that corresponds with their “biological sex” in kindergarten through college. HB 798, introduced in March, would expand those restrictions to all public and government-owned multi-occupancy restrooms. That bill has not yet had a committee hearing. 

There is currently no bill in the Ohio Statehouse seeking to regulate private businesses’ restrooms.

Board President Bill Richey thanked CCV after the meeting via email.

“I appreciate your involvement, your testimony and your contact information.” Richey said. “I will be in touch if I have further questions.”

At the end of the meeting, Cox asked whether Superintendent Lofton heard “enough testimony tonight to be comfortable to send out that email” about the YMCA. (Day also provided a sample email for the superintendent along with his revised resolution, but the email was not discussed.)

Lofton, however, wanted specific directions from the Board on what they wanted him to say.

“I work for the school board, so if the school board passes a resolution that directs me to do something, I will do it,” he said.

Though Board Member Deborah Williams was interested in the warning, she wanted to be careful about the wording so the Board wasn’t “accusatory.” Another member, Tyler Scott, cut her off.

“Accusatory of what? Them putting men in women’s restrooms?” Scott said.

As she tried to clarify what she said, he continued to talk over her.

Board Member Day agreed on the resolution, but he didn’t want to burn bridges with the YMCA either. “You threaten … burning a long-standing partnership and relationship with the community,” Day said.

Scott also cut him off. “We aren’t letting men in girls’ restrooms, right? So who’s burning that bridge?” Scott said. He then cited public comment alleging an incident of sexual violence at Xenia YMCA that occurred 30 years ago committed by a cisgender man that wasn’t in a locker room.

Emails show public concerns over the resolution and Board behavior

Members of the public sent emails to Board members expressing worry over promoting the resolution without any documentation of Xenia students experiencing harm at the YMCA.

One former Xenia teacher, Melva Newsom, said she doesn’t know of any parents complaining about the YMCA and questioned why the resolution was necessary.

“Therefore it is beyond belief that you would allow those obviously irrelevant people to address an item that had already been removed from the agenda,” Newsom said. “If you actually believe the YMCA is unsafe, why are you allowing the [district] to have activities there?”

Replying to Newsom, Richey said he was “made aware of another occurrence within the last month at the Xenia Y.”

When Newsom published Richey’s response on Facebook, David Thompson, corporate staff at the YMCA of Greater Dayton, emailed the executive director of Xenia YMCA, Kim Sheehan, with a screenshot showing Richey’s response.

“Any idea what [Richey] would be referring to?” Thompson said.

The next day, YMCA of Greater Dayton President Brunner sent an email to Lofton confirming there have been “no additional incidents or issues at the Xenia YMCA.”

David Mahan, executive director of policy at CCV, reached out to the Board via email to “provide context for the importance of your resolution to simply inform parents of the YMCA’s reckless locker room policy.”

Cox, who originally submitted the YMCA resolution, thanked Mahan and said he would “discuss with legal counsel to determine the next best course of action.”

“I ran for this position on the platform that biological men ought not be allowed into woman’s changing spaces,” Cox replied. “Since being elected with 4,273 votes from my community, I’ve voted YES to adopt Board policies that reflect this platform, and what I believe to be the values of the majority of this community.”

Jennifer Marietta, a former board member who unsuccessfully ran for Xenia’s Board of Education in 2025, emailed Board Member Williams believing the Board “likely [violated]” Ohio’s Open Meetings Act. Since the Oct. 5 meeting was designated as a special meeting to better suit the Board president’s schedule, the Board should have been restricted to agenda items and “cannot add things or discuss topics not on the agenda.”

Marietta also encouraged Williams to reconsider the YMCA resolution as the facility “does not inquire as to people’s genitalia history at the door.” Even if Xenia YMCA did have a policy excluding trans people from locker rooms, Mareitta said, such a policy “would be difficult to enforce, and place hardship on families, and increase danger to children.”

Board member’s comments “were repugnant,” “not based in fact,” and “jeopardize a decades-long partnership where goodwill has been shared between our schools and the YMCA.”

“The only reason I can think of to do something like this [resolution] is to re-invigorate culture wars and distract from the real issues facing our students,” she said. “I strongly encourage you to put an end to this, and to issue an apology to the YMCA, before this becomes more damaging publicly than it already is.” 🔥

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IGNITE ACTION

• To learn more about the Xenia Community Schools Board of Education, visit the district’s website here.
• If you are a young LGBTQ+ person in crisis, please contact the Trevor Project: 866-4-U-Trevor.
• If you are an transgender adult in need of immediate help, contact the National Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860.