Campbell County Recreation Center to address gender in locker rooms

GILLETTE — The Campbell County Recreation Center is one of the county’s busiest facilities, with hundreds of thousands of visits each year.

But earlier in February, Rec Center staff members were faced with a situation they’d never dealt with before, and the Campbell County Attorney’s Office and human resources department are working on a solution.

At the Parks and Recreation Board’s quarterly meeting with commissioners Monday, Commission Chair Del Shelstad said an adult at the Rec Center reported seeing a transgender woman in the women’s locker room earlier in February.

This week, a new sign that includes “gender non-conforming” people has been placed outside the family locker rooms, which include individual private rooms and stalls inside. Meanwhile, the county and Rec Center continue to work on a formal policy change for the facility’s locker rooms. 

Dwayne Dillinger, executive director of Parks and Recreation, said that a couple of weeks ago, an adult who is a member of the Rec Center saw the person in the women’s locker room and went to Rec Center staff with “concerns.” 

“The staff met with them, told them we had a family locker room that was available if they were more comfortable using it, and they indicated they were not,” Dillinger said.

He said it’s likely that there were no kids there because it happened in the afternoon when school was still in session. The person left shortly after speaking with staff.

A couple of days later, the same thing happened with the same person, Dillinger said, adding that the person has not been back since then.

Brandy Elder, human resources director for the county, met with parks staff, commissioners and the county attorney’s office to discuss what the next steps should be.

Shelstad said at the meeting that the county attorney’s office is working on a policy to give Rec Center staff direction in situations like these.

Shelstad said he hasn’t seen the policy yet, but “I presume it’s going to be written so that any individuals in their situation are asked to use the family locker room.”

The policy would have to be adopted by the parks board, not the commissioners, because it would only apply to the Rec Center and not all county facilities, Shelstad said.

In the meantime, the county has added signs to the family locker rooms, which are located next to the climbing tower. This space has private changing stalls as well as private rooms with showers, toilets and doors that lock.

The signs will let people know that the family locker rooms are a “universal locker room,” Dillinger said, and that they are for families, “gender non-conforming individuals,” patrons with caregivers and anyone who wants more privacy.

The rooms have always been a universal changing area, but they were never labeled as such until now.

“The county’s job is to provide a good environment for everybody that uses it,” Shelstad said. “We have a unique situation where we have family locker rooms, much more appropriate for that individual to be in.”

Commissioner Jim Ford agreed.

“We’re obligated to respect all people and protect all people,” he said. “We can do that in this case, it should be an easy fix.”

The morning of the meeting, the county amended the parks board’s agenda to allow for public comment, and four people showed up and used the opportunity to speak. They were not the ones who made the initial report, but rather were residents concerned about the situation.

Dennes Foy said he’s “not ready for” transgender people in the Rec Center’s locker rooms, and that he doesn’t want his granddaughters or his wife seeing male genitalia. He said he’s protective of his wife whenever he’s traveling outside Wyoming.

“I know that it’s happening everywhere and people are going to be what they want to be,” said Foy’s wife, Patty. “I don’t want to be mean about it, but I disagree with it.”

Keith Fare said his grandchildren have been coming to the Rec Center for years, and the fact that this situation even happened makes him uncomfortable.

Whatever the policy ends up looking like, Shelstad said it needs to be solid to avoid the county being sued.

“If we create a policy, we need to create a policy that’s going to stand, so that we don’t make a mistake somewhere along the way on that policy that turns it into a lawsuit situation and this thing gets blown way out of proportion,” he said.

Wyoming is one of 40 states that does not have a ban on transgender people’s use of bathrooms, and one of 43 states that does not have a law defining sex in ways that would affect transgender people’s use of bathrooms.

Rep. Jeanette Ward, R-Casper, proposed a bill called the What Is A Woman Act earlier in the ongoing legislative session in Cheyenne, but it failed introduction. The bill proposed defining “man” and “woman” based on biological terms.

“We’re all very sensitive to the fact that it is a delicate topic, and we want to make sure everyone is protected,” Elder said. “And by everyone, we mean all parties… it’s a really fine line to walk and make sure everyone is comfortable and in a good place.”