Popular WI SPA , transgender & large protests make international news
Wi Spa controversy June 24, 2021
Description
On June 24, 2021, a cisgender woman claimed that an unknown individual with a penis, most commonly believed to be a trans woman, was allowed nude inside Wi Spa, a Korean spa located in Los Angeles, California. Wikipedia
Re: Popular WI SPA , transgender & large protests make international news
Facebook censoring trans women (or Donald Trump), but allowing the Talibans post their insanity and Dictators Maduro and Castro bragging about killing their People.
People clashed Saturday during dueling demonstrations fueled by a
posted by a woman upset that a person who identified as a trans female was allowed to disrobe in the women's section of an upscale Koreatown spa. The incident occurred last weekend at Wi Spa at 2700 Wilshire Blvd. The irate customer posted the video on Instagram, and it quickly drew widespread exposure and support from many others on the site.
[COLOR=rgba(13, 13, 13, 0.9)]The woman can be heard complaining to a staff member at the counter of the establishment. “So, it's OK for a man to go into the women's section, show his penis around the other women, young little girls -- underage -- in your spa? Wi Spa condones that, is that what you're saying?” she asks. [/COLOR]
[COLOR=rgba(13, 13, 13, 0.9)]Another customer tells the woman to go somewhere else if she's offended. “You go somewhere else!” she replies. “You go somewhere else!”
[/COLOR]
[COLOR=rgba(13, 13, 13, 0.9)]Another male customer attempts to defend the trans person, who is not seen in the video, but the woman isn't convinced. “He's a man. He is a man. He is not no female,” she says.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=rgba(13, 13, 13, 0.9)]Another customer can also be heard complaining and asking for her money back. [/COLOR]
[COLOR=rgba(13, 13, 13, 0.9)]Wi Spa defended its policy in a statement to Los Angeles Magazine. [/COLOR]
[COLOR=rgba(13, 13, 13, 0.9)][COLOR=rgba(13, 13, 13, 0.9)]“Like many other metropolitan areas, Los Angeles contains a transgender population, some of whom enjoy visiting a spa,” the statement said. “Wi Spa strives to meet the needs of all its customers.”
[/COLOR] [/COLOR]
[COLOR=rgba(13, 13, 13, 0.9)]A protest was scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday in front of the business by those opposed to the policy, but supporters of trans rights with the group SoCal Antifa planned to show up two hours earlier for a “No Bigotry in L.A.” rally. And solidarity demonstrations supporting the trans community were also planned Saturday and Sunday at nearby MacArthur Park.
Re: Popular WI SPA , transgender & large protests make international news
People clashed Saturday during dueling demonstrations fueled by a
posted by a woman upset that a person who identified as a trans female was allowed to disrobe in the women's section of an upscale Koreatown spa.
The incident occurred last weekend at Wi Spa at 2700 Wilshire Blvd. The irate customer posted the video on Instagram, and it quickly drew widespread exposure and support from many others on the site.
The woman can be heard complaining to a staff member at the counter of the establishment. “So, it's OK for a man to go into the women's section, show his penis around the other women, young little girls -- underage -- in your spa? Wi Spa condones that, is that what you're saying?” she asks. Another customer tells the woman to go somewhere else if she's offended. “You go somewhere else!” she replies. “You go somewhere else!”
Another male customer attempts to defend the trans person, who is not seen in the video, but the woman isn't convinced. “He's a man. He is a man. He is not no female,” she says.
Another customer can also be heard complaining and asking for her money back.
Wi Spa defended its policy in a statement to Los Angeles Magazine.
“Like many other metropolitan areas, Los Angeles contains a transgender population, some of whom enjoy visiting a spa,” the statement said. “Wi Spa strives to meet the needs of all its customers.”
A protest was scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday in front of the business by those opposed to the policy, but supporters of trans rights with the group SoCal Antifa planned to show up two hours earlier for a “No Bigotry in L.A.” rally.
And solidarity demonstrations supporting the trans community were also planned Saturday and Sunday at nearby MacArthur Park.
Re: Popular WI SPA , transgender & large protests make international news
Dozens arrested in Los Angeles as anti-trans protest outside spa turns
Wi Spa, a Koreatown business with a trans-inclusive policy, has become the target of a rightwing media storm
Dozens of people have been arrested in Los Angeles following a chaotic and at times violent demonstration by anti-transgender protesters who targeted a Koreatown spa that has a trans-inclusive policy allowing trans women to use women’s facilities. Saturday marked the second weekend of violent protests this month in the streets around Wi Spa, a neighborhood business that has found itself at the heart of a right-wing media storm over an alleged incident in which a customer filmed herself complaining about a trans woman in the women’s area of the spa.
The far-right protesters called for a boycott of Wi Spa and chanted baseless claims about paedophilia, as women carrying signs reading “protect female spaces” and “It’s worse in women’s shelters” marched alongside men wearing helmets and masks that covered their faces. Calls to defend “female spaces” and “women’s shelters” have become rallying cries of anti-trans groups, who have falsely suggested that trans-inclusive policies endanger cis women. California has for years had laws in place that allow trans people to use facilities that match their gender. The chants and signs in Los Angeles on Saturday highlighted the convergence of anti-trans activism with other strains of far-right activism. Many demonstrators chanted “Save our children,” a slogan taken up by QAnon conspiracy theorists, whose ideology is centered on an elaborate narrative about a cabal of influential paedophiles. Other demonstrators wore shirts pledging to murder leftwing activists, with reference to rightwing death squads in Chile in the 1970s. Arthur Schaper, the leader of the California chapter of MassResistance, an anti-LGBT organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) classifies as a hate group, arrived early at the protest outside Wi Spa and took refuge behind a line of police officers as trans rights protesters heckled him.
For hours on Saturday, the neighborhood around Wi Spa was filled with lines of police in riot helmets and clashes between police and protesters, with reports of less-lethal weapons being used against the trans rights and anti-fascist activists who showed up as part of a counter-protest against the far-right demonstrators. The volatile protests, in the middle of an ordinary Saturday, left some passers-by confused and fearful.
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A Los Angeles police department spokesperson said police made several dozen arrests for failure to disperse after declaring an unlawful assembly shortly after 11am. LAPD also appeared to firerubber bullets at trans rights demonstrators from a close distance, despite a recent judge’s ruling restricting the department’s use of certain “less lethal” projectile launchers against protesters. A Guardian journalist who tried to interview far-right protesters was chased, pushed, and shoved to the ground.
Footage also showed LAPD officers taking a trans flag from demonstrators, and the police department later posted a photo of a rainbow-painted piece of wood left behind, claiming it was some kind of violation.
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Far-right groups and Republicans legislators have over the past year increasingly targeted trans people as part of a broader culture war, with anti-LGBTQ campaigns and a series of anti-trans state bills, including legislation targeting medical care for trans youth and attempting to prevent trans girls from participating in women’s sports. The US rightwing media have spent several weeks turning the inclusive policy of a local Korean spa into national news. Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show put the spotlight on Wi Spa in late June, highlighting a viral video of the customer who complained to spa employees . In the video, spa employees politely reiterated the business’ non-discrimination policies and compliance with the law, as the customer argued, “There’s no such thing as transgender.” A Los Angeles LBGT newspaper later reported that there were questions about the veracity of the allegations in the viral video, and that it was not clear if any transgender customers were even presentin the spa when the video was filmed. The following Saturday, 3 July, saw violent clashes around the spa as anti-trans demonstrators showed up to protest Wi Spa, and local trans rights and anti-fascist activists showed up to defend it. Police said they made no arrests during the first round of chaotic protests, despite several violent attacks captured on video.
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Amber Hooper, from Orange County, had watched the violence in early July in shock, and had decided to come to Wi Spa with a friend for the second counter-protest on Saturday 17 July, after local activists said far-right demonstrators were planning to return. The friends said they wanted to represent their community, and were hoping the violence would stop. It was frustrating to see that “the people who talk about law and order are against the laws that protect trans people,” Hooper said. “Trans rights are human rights.”
Jamie Penn, a neighborhood activist and medic, said that the trans rights demonstrators wanted to protect the spa and its business, but that the spa itself was trying to remain neutral, and that it seemed to want the whole situation to go away.
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Wi Spa did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the ongoing protests. “Like many other metropolitan areas, Los Angeles contains a transgender population, some of whom enjoy visiting a spa,” Wi Spa had said in a statement to Los Angeles Magazine in late June, noting that California law bars businesses from discriminating against trans people. “Wi Spa strives to meet the needs of all its customers.” Southern California has long been a center of rightwing extremism, including violent pro-Trump demonstrations, militia groups, activists links to QAnon, and white supremacist organizations, and many of the California defendants charged with participating in the 6 January pro-Trump insurrection at the US capitol came from Los Angeles and surrounding cities. LAPD has faced intense scrutiny for its aggressive response to demonstrators, including multiple reports in recent months finding that officers used excessive force and violated its own policies during last year’s Black Lives Matter demonstrations, in some cases causing serious injuries requiring hospitalization.
… we have a small favour to ask. Tens of millions have placed their trust in the Guardian’s high-impact journalism since we started publishing 200 years ago, turning to us in moments of crisis, uncertainty, solidarity and hope. More than 1.5 million readers, from 180 countries, have recently taken the step to support us financially – keeping us open to all, and fiercely independent.
With no shareholders or billionaire owner, we can set our own agenda and provide trustworthy journalism that’s free from commercial and political influence, offering a counterweight to the spread of misinformation. When it’s never mattered more, we can investigate and challenge without fear or favour.
Unlike many others, Guardian journalism is available for everyone to read, regardless of what they can afford to pay. We do this because we believe in information equality. Greater numbers of people can keep track of global events, understand their impact on people and communities, and become inspired to take meaningful action.
We aim to offer readers a comprehensive, international perspective on critical events shaping our world – from the Black Lives Matter movement, to the new American administration, Brexit, and the world's slow emergence from a global pandemic. We are committed to upholding our reputation for urgent, powerful reporting on the climate emergency, and made the decision to reject advertising from fossil fuel companies, divest from the oil and gas industries, and set a course to achieve net zero emissions by 2030.
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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/18/dozens-arrested-in-los-angeles-as-anti-trans-protest-outside-spa-turns-violentThe far-right protesters called for a boycott of Wi Spa and chanted baseless claims about paedophilia, as women carrying signs reading “protect female spaces” and “It’s worse in women’s shelters” marched alongside men wearing helmets and masks that covered their faces. Calls to defend “female spaces” and “women’s shelters” have become rallying cries of anti-trans groups, who have falsely suggested that trans-inclusive policies endanger cis women. California has for years had laws in place that allow trans people to use facilities that match their gender. The chants and signs in Los Angeles on Saturday highlighted the convergence of anti-trans activism with other strains of far-right activism. Many demonstrators chanted “Save our children,” a slogan taken up by QAnon conspiracy theorists, whose ideology is centered on an elaborate narrative about a cabal of influential paedophiles. Other demonstrators wore shirts pledging to murder leftwing activists, with reference to rightwing death squads in Chile in the 1970s. Arthur Schaper, the leader of the California chapter of MassResistance, an anti-LGBT organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) classifies as a hate group, arrived early at the protest outside Wi Spa and took refuge behind a line of police officers as trans rights protesters heckled him.
For hours on Saturday, the neighborhood around Wi Spa was filled with lines of police in riot helmets and clashes between police and protesters, with reports of less-lethal weapons being used against the trans rights and anti-fascist activists who showed up as part of a counter-protest against the far-right demonstrators. The volatile protests, in the middle of an ordinary Saturday, left some passers-by confused and fearful.
Advertisement
A Los Angeles police department spokesperson said police made several dozen arrests for failure to disperse after declaring an unlawful assembly shortly after 11am. LAPD also appeared to firerubber bullets at trans rights demonstrators from a close distance, despite a recent judge’s ruling restricting the department’s use of certain “less lethal” projectile launchers against protesters. A Guardian journalist who tried to interview far-right protesters was chased, pushed, and shoved to the ground.
Footage also showed LAPD officers taking a trans flag from demonstrators, and the police department later posted a photo of a rainbow-painted piece of wood left behind, claiming it was some kind of violation.
Advertisement
Far-right groups and Republicans legislators have over the past year increasingly targeted trans people as part of a broader culture war, with anti-LGBTQ campaigns and a series of anti-trans state bills, including legislation targeting medical care for trans youth and attempting to prevent trans girls from participating in women’s sports. The US rightwing media have spent several weeks turning the inclusive policy of a local Korean spa into national news. Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show put the spotlight on Wi Spa in late June, highlighting a viral video of the customer who complained to spa employees . In the video, spa employees politely reiterated the business’ non-discrimination policies and compliance with the law, as the customer argued, “There’s no such thing as transgender.” A Los Angeles LBGT newspaper later reported that there were questions about the veracity of the allegations in the viral video, and that it was not clear if any transgender customers were even presentin the spa when the video was filmed. The following Saturday, 3 July, saw violent clashes around the spa as anti-trans demonstrators showed up to protest Wi Spa, and local trans rights and anti-fascist activists showed up to defend it. Police said they made no arrests during the first round of chaotic protests, despite several violent attacks captured on video.
Advertisement
Amber Hooper, from Orange County, had watched the violence in early July in shock, and had decided to come to Wi Spa with a friend for the second counter-protest on Saturday 17 July, after local activists said far-right demonstrators were planning to return. The friends said they wanted to represent their community, and were hoping the violence would stop. It was frustrating to see that “the people who talk about law and order are against the laws that protect trans people,” Hooper said. “Trans rights are human rights.”
Jamie Penn, a neighborhood activist and medic, said that the trans rights demonstrators wanted to protect the spa and its business, but that the spa itself was trying to remain neutral, and that it seemed to want the whole situation to go away.
Advertisement
Wi Spa did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the ongoing protests. “Like many other metropolitan areas, Los Angeles contains a transgender population, some of whom enjoy visiting a spa,” Wi Spa had said in a statement to Los Angeles Magazine in late June, noting that California law bars businesses from discriminating against trans people. “Wi Spa strives to meet the needs of all its customers.” Southern California has long been a center of rightwing extremism, including violent pro-Trump demonstrations, militia groups, activists links to QAnon, and white supremacist organizations, and many of the California defendants charged with participating in the 6 January pro-Trump insurrection at the US capitol came from Los Angeles and surrounding cities. LAPD has faced intense scrutiny for its aggressive response to demonstrators, including multiple reports in recent months finding that officers used excessive force and violated its own policies during last year’s Black Lives Matter demonstrations, in some cases causing serious injuries requiring hospitalization.
… we have a small favour to ask. Tens of millions have placed their trust in the Guardian’s high-impact journalism since we started publishing 200 years ago, turning to us in moments of crisis, uncertainty, solidarity and hope. More than 1.5 million readers, from 180 countries, have recently taken the step to support us financially – keeping us open to all, and fiercely independent.
With no shareholders or billionaire owner, we can set our own agenda and provide trustworthy journalism that’s free from commercial and political influence, offering a counterweight to the spread of misinformation. When it’s never mattered more, we can investigate and challenge without fear or favour.
Unlike many others, Guardian journalism is available for everyone to read, regardless of what they can afford to pay. We do this because we believe in information equality. Greater numbers of people can keep track of global events, understand their impact on people and communities, and become inspired to take meaningful action.
We aim to offer readers a comprehensive, international perspective on critical events shaping our world – from the Black Lives Matter movement, to the new American administration, Brexit, and the world's slow emergence from a global pandemic. We are committed to upholding our reputation for urgent, powerful reporting on the climate emergency, and made the decision to reject advertising from fossil fuel companies, divest from the oil and gas industries, and set a course to achieve net zero emissions by 2030.
If there were ever a time to join us, it is now. Every contribution, however big or small, powers our journalism and sustains our future. Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you. Support the Guardian
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Re: Popular WI SPA , transgender & large protests make international news
Was Trans Nudity Incident at Los Angeles Spa Staged?
The incident supposedly happened June 24, when an Instagram user going by Cubana Angel posted a video of her complaining to a staff member at Wi Spa about the trans woman, referring to her as a man, and saying women and girls in the area were offended by the sight of the trans woman’s genitals. Cubana Angel was upset that spa personnel supported the trans woman, and she said, “There ain’t no such thing as transgender.” The video circulated on websites for far-right groups and trans-exclusionary radical feminists, or TERFs. It led to protests by both trans-supportive and anti-trans demonstrators the following weekend and to an editorial in the Los Angeles Timesendorsing trans people’s right to public accommodations. Several right-wing media outlets, however, have characterized the matter as an example of trans rights going too far.
But now a Blade contributor, a trans activist and journalist writing under the pseudonym Robert Lansing, says the whole thing may have been an elaborate hoax.
“A source at the Spa told the Blade there’s no record of any of its usual transgender clients on its appointments guest list on the day in question,” Lansing wrote in an article published Wednesday. “Treatment at the Spa is by appointment only, and most of its transgender clients are well known to the staff.”
Also, anonymous sources with the Los Angeles Police Department told Lansing there’s no corroborating evidence that a trans person was at Wi Spa that day. No obviously trans person can be seen in the video, and no other clients have offered evidence either, according to the article. A woman falsely accused of being the trans woman who so offended Cubana Angel has been harassed and received death threats, the writer noted.
“It also remains a possibility that there was a person, unknown to the Wi Spa staff, who pretended to be transgender to create an inciting incident,” Lansing continued. “In 2015, anti-transgender activists in Washington State deliberately encouraged men to enter women’s facilities. One cisgender man entered a swimming pool changing area wearing only board shorts while claiming that he had a right to be there (he was removed from the premises without charges being filed).”
Cubana Angel’s Instagram posts are “almost exclusively Christian memes,” so it’s strange that she would go to a spa known for its friendliness to LGBTQ+ people, Lansing added. The Advocate has sought comment from Cubana Angel but has yet to receive a response.
Finally got word of what Cubana Angel Aka Spa Queen is planning. Many are saying TERFs stay home. If it were us, we would go but stand across the street with our own big bold clear anti SB 179/Anti Self ID signage.#SayNoToSelfID#TWAM#SexNotGender#WomanMeansSomething#WiSpa
Popular WI SPA , transgender & large protests make international news
Re: Popular WI SPA , transgender & large protests make international news
!important; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);">Remind me in October
is planning. Many are saying TERFs stay home. If it were us, we would go but stand across the street with our own big bold clear anti SB 179/Anti Self ID signage.#SayNoToSelfID#TWAM#SexNotGender#WomanMeansSomething#WiSpa
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