Ozark Swimming must ensure the safety of women and girls, period. Any facility used by an Ozark Swimming practice or Ozark Swimming sanctioned meet must restrict males from entering female locker rooms. If they do not, the clubs must find a facility that does. This might require goodwill club to club to share space, or pursue legal action against the facility. USA Swimming expects teams and coaches to protect their swimmers, so it should be a no brainer that males cannot expose themselves to female swimmers, no matter how they “feel”. 

Currently, there are no regulations requiring aquatic facilities to restrict access to women's locker rooms based on biological sex. This makes sense because the definition of woman has changed to include men somehow. 

The current lack of regulation and distinction can potentially expose women and girls to dangerous situations where males can openly expose themselves and take opportunities to stare at naked women and girls against their consent, which are very real forms of sexual abuse. 

We should also not forget that Jeff Vernace, former head coach of the top team in the area and banned from USA Swimming, was able to groom girls within the swimming facilities. The former head coach of Carmel Swim Club, not an Ozark Team but a team that has hosted and attended Ozark events, raped minor female swimmers. Access to the women’s locker room would have severely put more swimmers further in harms way had they been coaches today where the word “women” has become open to any man.

At the NCAAs, a man fully exposed himself to all female swimmers in their locker rooms with no repercussions. The aquatic facility deemed the women’s locker room open for all genders. So additionally there’s a need to require that a women’s locker room always be present for females only. The swim meet carried forward with no action by NCAA, now facing dozens of class action lawsuits. 

In Canada, a 50-year-old man entered the women’s locker room during a swim meet for primarily underage girls between 7 and 14 years old. The aquatic facility also allowed this to happen, being complicit in exposing more than dozens of minor girls to a naked man. The swimming governing body there also became complicit in the sexual assault of all the female swimmers by regarding the issue as belonging to the facility. This is not a scenario we want for our Ozark swimmers. 

By mandating that all aquatic facilities within St. Louis designate their women’s locker rooms exclusively for individuals with XX chromosomes – i.e., biologically female – we can provide an additional layer of security for our community’s females and young swimmers.

We urge facility operators to consider this proposal seriously. It's not just about comfort; it's about safeguarding our daughters, sisters, mothers, friends from potential harm while they're simply trying to enjoy public amenities.

Please sign this petition if you believe that every woman deserves a safe space where she can change without fear or discomfort.