A second grader was gender-bullied in a locker room, not by fellow second graders but by a middle-aged white man. The incident took place in a Washington D.C. YMCA locker room in Washington.
Last week, a social media user took to Reddit to air her grievances about an unfortunate incident that occurred at the YMCA. According to the grieving mother, her husband took their son to swim class. However, as her son undressed in the locker room, a middle-aged white man stared at him and made comments about his hair. He also accused the boy of being a girl and demanded he could not be in the men’s room. This caused the second-grader to cry, making him too scared to partake in the swim lessons again.
The second-grader’s mother, who was furious at the incident, asked a series of questions on Reddit directed towards the white man. “Why on God’s green earth were you staring at my son while he undressed for swim class with his father in the men’s locker room? What was your intent in stating that he was a girl and could not be there? Did you think you were ‘protecting him’ while you, semi-clothed, stared at him and his long hair and chicken bone body?” she wrote.
“Was it transphobia? Was it a misguided attempt to protect girls from men like yourself?” she continued.
The victim’s mother also stated that she and her husband had decided to allow their son to grow his hair out during the pandemic. She further fired at the accused, asking if his actions were a direct criticism of their decisions as parents or if he was just relieving his days as a “teenage bully.”
“For the record, you are not the ‘gender police,’ and there is no such thing as the ‘gender police.’ You made a second grader cry and made him too scared to swim and afraid of a place he has attended since he was in my belly.”
Several users reacted as the story made the rounds on social media, expressing outrage at the incident.
One user cried out, saying, “The anti-trans hysteria is ironically leading to more opportunities to harm children, who conservatives claim they want to protect. Now adults feel entitled to inspect children’s bodies 🤮🤮🤮.”
Another user said, “The ‘personal freedom’ crowd seems to have a big ‘mind your own business’ problem,” and another said, “This is sexual harassment of a child.”
Other citizens apologized to the victim’s mother, saying they hoped the accused would get punished for his actions. “Transphobic (and apparently child sex predators) is everywhere. I’m sorry this happened. Hopefully, this a-hole will get kicked out of the Y permanently,” a user chimed in.
“It’s so infuriating knowing he sees himself as the good guy when in reality, he’s a weirdo harassing a family. It’s mental to interrogate someone to know the sex of a child,” another agreed.
The victim’s mother further penned a message to the “rest of America,” saying that Americans should learn to mind their business because it doesn’t matter and should not be a subject of discussion. As of now, the accused has yet to come forward to claim any responsibility for his actions.
