A Washington state judge ruled that a female-only spa must accept men if they identify as women.
The Olympus Spa offers many services that require patrons to be undressed, and the employees who work on-site are all female. The owners, who are Christian, claimed that their constitutional rights, and those of their employees and patrons, were infringed upon.
But a district court judge ruled otherwise, saying that the state law, called Washington's Law Against Discrimination, “does not discriminate on its face, and it does not by its terms favor a particular religion or the non-exercise of religion.”
The owners of the spa say they plan to enter a new complaint in the case.
Here to break this down is Jon Schweppe, the policy director of the American Principles Project.