It used to be simple. Summer camp, after-school programs, and the local YMCA were places parents could trust. You signed the permission slip, packed the lunches, and didn’t worry about it. But those days are fading fast. And now, parents are being told to read the fine print—because the YMCA isn’t what it used to be.
According to a recent report from The Daily Wire, the American Parents Coalition is raising alarms about the YMCA’s new approach to gender identity. In short, many YMCAs are allowing access to locker rooms, showers, and even overnight cabins based on declared gender identity rather than biological sex.
That’s not a rumor or exaggeration. It’s in the policy. And it’s creating situations where young girls may be expected to share their most private spaces with biological males.
Camp Olson in Minnesota provides one example. Their written policy states that no one should be required to use an alternative facility simply because they are transgender. The result? If a young girl feels unsafe or uncomfortable, she’s the one expected to move. Not the biological male in the girls’ space—her.
That’s not just bad policy. It’s a complete reversal of common sense.
And if you’re thinking a concerned parent can step in and fix the situation, think again. The same camp also reserves the right not to inform parents if their child decides to change their gender identity while attending. According to their guidelines, a camper’s new identity will not be disclosed to their family without permission.
Let’s call this what it is: an ideological overreach. A camp or community center has no business facilitating deeply personal decisions behind a parent’s back. This is not about privacy. It’s about authority—and who gets to make life-altering decisions for a child.
Of course, it’s not just about policies on paper. There are real-world consequences. In Washington state, 82-year-old Julie Jaman was banned for life from her local YMCA after she objected to seeing a biological male in the women’s locker room. She says he was watching young girls. Her concern? Labeled “discriminatory” and grounds for expulsion.
Other reports have surfaced from states like Missouri and Ohio, where women and girls have found themselves sharing spaces with naked biological males. And the response from the YMCA in most cases has been to defend the policies—not the women and girls raising concerns.
The bottom line is this: the YMCA, once a pillar of family values and safety, is turning itself inside out to appease a narrow ideology. And it’s doing so at the expense of the very people it claims to serve—children and their parents.
Parents shouldn’t have to second-guess whether their daughters are safe at summer camp. But today, they do. And that means it’s time to start asking hard questions before signing any more permission slips.
