Misgendered and illegally told to use men's restroom at Banneker Pool

Hello,

My name is Phoebe Shatzer (this is an older account using an intermediate name) I am a trans woman living in Ward 2 who has been medically transitioning for 3 years now. I went to Banneker last year no problem for a friend's birthday. I wear a swim dress to and from the pool, so I strictly use the women's locker rooms for, well, the lockers and for the restrooms. I am NEVER unclothed.

I went to Banneker on June 25th at 6:10 PM for a queer swim. I stored my bag in a locker and had a lovely 50 minutes or so swimming with queer folks and my friends. However, around 7, I stood in the hallway waiting for a transfem friend who has not yet started medical transition. We met up, and I decided to go in with them so they'd be safer. She put her things in the locker and was going to change, either in the showers or the bathroom stalls, when I hear "That's a man!" and what was essentially sexual harassment, as my friend was asked by this individual where certain intimate parts of hers were. As of yet, I wasn't in the equation.

I say back "She has every right to be here!" and tell my friend to get in a shower to get changed and also out of this person's direct line of sight. We come out, and are now BOTH told to use the men's room by pool security in direct view of several individuals. I'm incensed. I yell that the law is on our side, they ignore that completely (it is, see DC Municipal Regulation 4-802, promulgated 2006). I yell I'm taking it up with DPR, the individual on pool security says I can do that. I then yell that I'm taking my business elsewhere and that I don't blame the individual, but I will still be contacting DPR.

The staff upstairs at reception when we left were much better and apologetic, and tried to offer and listen to solutions, including signs stressing restrooms were open to all. We then have someone (presumably the pool manager/DJ) rush up and tell us we can go back. The whole thing feels very haphazard on the potential pool manager's part and it feels like they think they're doing us a favor instead of frankly just following public accommodations law in effect for OVER 15 YEARS. We still leave, not wanting to risk staff for whom the de jure law is clearly only de facto banning us from the pool.

I have contacted DPR, MOLGBTQA, and Councilmembers Lewis-George (who led a similar effort at Upshur Pool), Nadeau, and Pinto, as well as filing a formal complaint with DCOHR and contacting constituent services. I know from speaking to friends that this is NOT the first time Banneker has done this and am willing to go public and encourage them to do so as well to put pressure on DPR via mass media, but if I go public, I want it to be about the wider general systemic failure of Banneker, of which my story is only one chapter. If the lifeguards at Banneker do not want the law enforced, they should campaign to remove it, because otherwise this just makes finding public accommodation that should be legal already the work of basically a full time job