On Friday, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey launched an investigation into Life Time Fitness in Ellisville, Mo. after constituents notified him that the gym has actively allowed a biological male to use women and girls’ private spaces. He immediately put the gym on notice that they face both potential criminal and civil liability for putting women and girls in harm’s way. His office is issuing subpoenas.
In the notice of investigation, Attorney General Bailey wrote, “It has come to my attention that Life Time Fitness has proudly adopted a policy that permits biological men to use locker rooms designated specifically for women and young girls. Even more concerning is the fact that instead of taking the safety concerns from your gym members seriously, you rudely correct them and insist they call this biological male by the ‘correct pronouns.’ While it might be considered fashionable in certain corporate boardrooms to pretend that biology is irrelevant, the American heartland still lives in reality. Missourians recognize that allowing adult men to openly invade and disrobe in spaces set aside for women and young girls is indefensible and places political correctness above public safety. That is why I am putting you on notice that you are under investigation.”
Attorney General Bailey personally prosecuted the leading case on criminal trespass, State v. Girardier, where a male refused to leave a women’s restroom. As a husband to his wife and a father to his young daughter, Attorney General Bailey refuses to let women and girls in Ellisville face the same danger.
In the notice of investigation, he noted, “In Missouri’s leading case on this issue, which I personally prosecuted, the Court confirmed that a male’s presence in a females’ public restroom constitutes criminal trespass. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 569.140; State v. Girardier, 484 S.W.3d 356 (Mo. App. E.D. 2015). When restrooms are separately designated for males and females, one is only permitted to use the restroom designed for his or her gender. See Girardier at 361 (‘[A] person’s right to use public restrooms is about as fundamental a right as one can imagine, probably equal to or more fundamental than speech rights.’ (quoting State v. Beine, 162 S.W.3d 483,487 (Mo. banc 2005)). Additionally, a male who exposes his genitals in the presence of others in the restroom may be subject to further criminal liability for multiple sexual offenses, including sexual misconduct in the first degree and the felony offense of sexual misconduct involving a child. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 566.093; Mo. Rev. Stat. § 566.083. Your policies are enabling potentially criminal behavior, and I am writing to assure you that it will not continue on my watch.”
Attorney General Bailey promised, “As Attorney General, I will vigorously defend and enforce Missouri’s laws. You face both potential criminal and civil liabilities, and you can expect to receive civil investigative demands from my office in short order. If you insist on endangering women and young girls in our state, in open defiance of the law, be assured you will face the consequences.”
The notice of investigation can be read here.
