PORT TOWNSEND — The City of Port Townsend continues to grapple with division in the community over transgender rights and protests that have taken place in the city.
It was the first city council meeting since scuffles broke out between protest groups outside city hall during an Aug. 15 meeting, the council following state policy on allowing transgender people to use the bathrooms of their choice, and the police response during the Aug. 15 protests.
“You’re bullies to an 80-year-old woman who is not aware of the recent changes to the fact that men are always men and vice versa with women,” one commenter, Julie Okulski, told the council in an email.
The city has gained international attention after Julie Jaman was banned from the local pool after she confronted a transgender woman, a YMCA employee, in the locker room. Many of the comments submitted came from outside Jefferson County and Washington state.
Four people gave public comments in person on Tuesday evening, and all but one were critical of the bathroom policy and blamed the city for scuffles that occurred between protest groups during the Aug. 15 demonstration outside city hall.
“I support Julie Jaman. I think that women and girls should have safety and security in a women’s bathroom,” said Hannah McFarland, speaking before the council.
Though many of the public comments were deeply critical of city leadership — one went so far as to call the Port Townsend Police Department “evil” — several stated support for transgender rights.
“Trans rights are human rights. Just as every one of you and us hope to live free, find joy, and thrive, so does every trans person hope to live,” said Chimacum resident Sara Post in an email.
“The bigotry trans people face is based on fear of otherness. But this fear is deeply unfounded. Trans people are much more likely to be the victims of hate crime than perpetrators of them.”
Dayne Allen Sheets, a transgender man, traveled from Sequim to give testimony before the council.
“My freedom doesn’t stop where their fears begin,” Sheets said of those seeking to ban transgender people from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
At the Aug. 15 meeting, the council issued a proclamation affirming Port Townsend as a safe place for all people, including transgender people. As the council met, more than 300 people gathered outside, many from out of town, and scuffles broke out between protest groups.
Port Townsend Police Chief Thomas Olson has said that the department had insufficient time to plan for the event, and that the event’s organizer had not requested police protection or crowd barriers.
Several of those who organized the protest against transpeople’s use of the locker rooms and bathrooms of their choice disputed that the chief had not been given notice.
Video of the Aug. 15 protest has circulated online, and Jaman appeared on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight to talk about her ban and the protest.
On Saturday, a small group of far-right protesters from the Washington Three Percenters militia group held a demonstration in downtown Port Townsend.
This time, the police set up crowd barriers with a 20-foot buffer zone in between, and city, county and State Patrol law enforcement were present.
In his report to the council, City Manager John Mauro noted the city can’t prevent people from gathering and that the bathroom policy at the pool is governed by a state rule.
The state Human Rights Commission, which was given the authority by the state Legislature, in 2016 set a rule that requires buildings open to the public to allow transgender people to use restrooms and locker rooms of the gender they identify with.
“When someone wants to hold a free speech rally, there’s nothing the city can do to stop that,” Mauro said. “The permit is a process by which we can glean information about what to expect and how to resource up.”
There was no property damage or major injuries at the Aug. 15 protest, Mauro said, which he attributed to several law enforcement agencies working together.
“I would say part of the reflection talking with state and federal agencies is the presence — I think appropriate but not over the top of presence — of multiple agencies is likely what helped prevent problems from happening in the first place,” Mauro said.
Mauro referred members of the public to the city’s question-and-answer page set up following Jaman’s ban from the Mountain View Pool, which is run by the Olympic Peninsula YMCA through a contract with the city.
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Reporter Peter Segall can be reached at psegall@soundpublishing.com.
