A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals judge said Monday that the Washington-based Olympus Spa’s female-only policy is akin to a “whites-only” policy.

Olympus Spa, a Christian Korean-run operation, is currently arguing in court that its mandate limiting patrons to “biological females” is protected by constitutional rights. The legal counsel of the spa appeared before a three-member panel of the Ninth Circuit on Monday due to the state’s Human Rights Commission accusing the business of discrimination in 2020.

The spa was accused of discrimination for denying services to a transgender woman who had not undergone sex-reassignment surgery, conservative radio host Jason Rantz reports.

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Judge M. Margaret McKeowna, a Bill Clinton appointee, slammed the female-only admissions policy.

“If you have a law that says ‘White applicants only,’ this is ‘biological women entrance only.’ It seems to me they’re quite parallel there,” McKeown said. 

“And you can’t have ‘White people only’ come into my restaurant, and then you say, ‘Well, no, we have a religious, spiritual nature to our restaurant, and when you get there, we serve you special food.’ This seems quite different.”

According to Rantz’s report that cited court documents, the spa restricts transgender women except for those who have “gone through post-operative sex confirmation surgery.” 

Furthermore, Olympus Spa’s rule maintains the policy is “essential for the safety, legal protection, and well-being of our customers.”

Olympus Spa, a Christian Korean-run operation, is currently arguing in court that its mandate limiting patrons to “biological females” is protected by constitutional rights.  (Google Maps (Screenshot))

The Christian-run service provides a Korean body scrub service called seshin that requires nudity. The owners maintain religious convictions that only married men and women can be unclothed in the same vicinity as each other. Their policy bars biological males from entering the facility. However, according to its website, “biological women are welcome” as well as those with “post-operative sex or gender confirmation surgery.”

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Legal counsel for the spa operators argued in court that their nudity policy is consistent with state laws and codes. 

“It is the spa’s position that the women sharing in this cultural and spiritual experience have associational and free exercise rights,” the spa’s attorney, Kevin Snider of Pacific Justice Institute, said during arguments Monday.

“It’s not really ‘biological women are welcome,’” McKeown also said on Monday, challenging Snider’s interpretation of the spa’s policy.

The state’s Human Rights Commission accused Olympus Spa of discrimination against a transgender woman in 2020. (Adobe Stock)

“It means nonbiological women are not welcome. I mean, that’s the reality.”

The remarks made in the hearing on Monday came after the state forced the spa to accept men if they identify as women. 

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The spa’s counter-lawsuit against the Human Rights Commission was struck down by a Washington-state judge last year. In an attempt to uphold their female-only policy, the spa argued that their Constitutional rights were violated.

Olympus Spa has locations in Tacoma and Lynnwood.

WASHINGTON D.C. (FOX 2) – A rally was held Tuesday night outside the US Capitol lawn in Washington D.C. Members of congress along with the families of those who lost someone at the hands of a drunk driver, gathered with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, calling for congress to act to pass laws that stop a driver who is drunk from ever starting a car. 

Rana Abbas’s life forever changed almost 6 years ago. Five members of her family were driving home to Dearborn when they were struck and killed by a drunk driver on I-75 in Lexington, Kentucky.

“My family was killed on Jan 6, 2019, not even a week after the new year,” she said. “It’s been six years and it doesn’t get any easier.”

Congresswoman Debbie Dingell says at the Abbas funeral it became clear what she needed to do.

“There were five, five of them that were active in the community,” she said. “Rema was in access, her husband was a doctor. We knew everybody. And overnight, I mean everyone had a good holiday and a drunk driver wiped out this family and devastated this community. Children that went to school with the kids looked at me and said technology exists to keep this from happening. Why haven’t you stopped it?”

Both Congresswomen Dingell and Rashida Talib worked with Abbas to get a law passed in congress. It was called ‘Halt,’ which requires all new cars to come equipped with tech that detects and stops impaired drivers from starting the vehicle. It was supposed to come into effect in 2026, giving time for regulations to be put in place. The candlelight rally in DC on Tuesday was designed to speed the process up.

“Every 78 secs someone is injured or killed by a drunk driver,” Abbas said. “When we hear that we needed three years, and we might need another three more, what we hear is we need 30,000 more people to be killed, and we might need another 30,000 more people to be killed before were ready to put this technology that’s available in vehicles and that is not okay.”

The National Transportation Safety Board has called on automakers and the US Department of Transportation to make this a priority.

Denzel Washington revealed to Esquire magazine as part of a new cover story that he got bitter after losing the best actor Oscar to Kevin Spacey in 2000. Washington was already a three-time Oscar nominee and one-time winner when his performance as Rubin Carter in “The Hurriance” landed him in the Oscar for best actor opposite Spacey (“American Beauty”), Russell Crowe (“The Insider”), Richard Farnsworth (“The Straight Story”) and Sean Penn (“Sweet and Lowdown”). Washington won a Golden Globe for his performance, but the Oscar went to Spacey.

“At the Oscars, they called Kevin Spacey’s name for ‘American Beauty,’” Washington said. “I have a memory of turning around and looking at him, and nobody was standing but the people around him. And everyone else was looking at me. Not that it was this way. Maybe that’s the way I perceived it. Maybe I felt like everybody was looking at me. Because why would everybody be looking at me? Thinking about it now, I don’t think they were.”

“I’m sure I went home and drank that night. I had to,” Washington said about his reaction to losing. “I don’t want to sound like, ‘Oh, he won my Oscar,’ or anything like that. It wasn’t like that. And you know, there was talk in the town about what was going on over there on that side of the street, and that’s between him and God. I ain’t got nothing to do with that. I pray for him. That’s between him and his maker.”

“The Hurricane” marked the second time Washington had found himself in the best actor race. He was previously nominated in the category for playing the title role in Spike Lee’s “Malcom X,” but the Oscar went to Al Pacino for “Scent of a Woman” instead. After losing best actor for a second time, Washington grew bitter and had his wife, Paulette, start voting in his place for the Academy Awards.

“I went through a time then when [my wife] Pauletta would watch all the Oscar movies—I told her, I don’t care about that. Hey: They don’t care about me? I don’t care,” Washington said. “You vote. You watch them. I ain’t watching that. I gave up. I got bitter. My pity party.”

Two years after losing best actor, Washington would finally win his first Academy Award for best actor thanks to “Training Day.” His victory made him only the was the second African-American performer to win the category, following Sidney Poitier for 1963’s “Lilies of the Field.” Washington has since gone on to earn four more Oscar nominations, most recently in 2022 for “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” He’s now back in the Oscar race in the supporting category field for “Gladiator 2.”

Head over to Esquire’s website to read Washington’s cover story in its entirety.