Shocked by YHA transgender policy wording

[CliffsofMoherVisitor]

I think this is the first time I have posted in this section. I have quietly read the threads for months as a lurker and become increasingly horrified at the creeping intrusion of males into women's spaces/sports.

What's prompted me to post is stumbling on the YHA's transgender policy. As you may already know (and it has been discussed before here, it is no longer single-sex dormitories - males can self-id as females and sleep in the female dormitory and vice versa. Reading the policy, it sounds like the YHA are trying to do the right thing (they quote the gender reassignment parts of the Equality Act), but it feels like they simply haven't thought it through.

The self-ID part of the policy and all its implications is troubling - self-IDing adult males sleeping in the same room/bunk as female children for example - how do you safeguard against a predator simply lying about their identity? But the line in the policy that upset me most was in relation to the sex-specific exemptions in the Equality Act as follows:

"In certain circumstances we may choose to invoke these exemptions; however, this is not as a rule. An example of these circumstances is people who have been the victims of abuse. In such situations we would work with all parties to provide a solution while still ensuring access everyone has access to our services. We invite people who meet the above criteria to get in touch with us in advance; please contact our customer care department at [email protected]. Individual requests will be dealt with on a case by case basis. Please be aware that these requests can take up to 14 days to process."

Am I correct in my reading that a female victim of abuse has to not only reveal this to the YHA, but do so 14 days in advance of their stay to ensure a female-only space? What if a transgender person arrives without a booking on the day? Is a female meant to go to the desk of the Youth Hostel and reveal their traumatic history to the receptionist? Then the receptionist decides what to do? What if there is no other accommodation available? Some Youth Hostels are in remote places. I find this statement absolutely mind-boggling in its impracticality, and sheer disregard for the experiences of abused women.

I feel so sad, I such good experiences Youth Hostelling as a teenager and a young woman, and I always stayed in YHA due to feeling safer as a single female ("Backpacker" hostels were often mixed sex dormitories). I did this even though YHA was usually more expensive.

I have always had a soft spot for YHA and think (thought) that they did good work for example doing trips for inner city kids to get out and experience the countryside, do hiking etc and of course, allowing a cheap yet safe place for females to stay when travelling. Therefore, even though I am more a Premier Inn type these days, I have always maintained my YHA membership via yearly standing order to support them - going back over 20 years now.

I'm not against trans-gender people using YHA at all - with segregation by sex, not by gender "identity", as it was originally. Perhaps with the provision of a third space open to both sexes? ie Male, Female and Mixed.

So - I think I have to cancel my standing order :( Should I write and tell them why, or will they label any protest "transphobia"?

Link to current YHA policy

(Side note St Briavels Castle is a fantastic youth hostel, but absolutely not one I would want to stay in by myself 😱😱😱😱 very very spooky)

Maybe that's their reasoning. Stick you on your own in an echoey, haunted dorm, you'll never bother them again.

Blocking out a whole dorm?

JFC. Oh, the tangled web we weave.

Minor derail
www.haunted-britain.com/st-briavels-castle.htm

It's extremely popular, and I'm really shocked about the whole dorm being blocked. Imagine we all insist on this?

Imagine we all insist on this?

Gosh, but that would be so Norty.

If we all insist on this then...doesn't that mean that they would provide Female and Male separated facilities?

Almost exactly what they had before the change in policy.

Strange.

How on earth is this nonsense a "proportionate means to a legitimate aim" ???

Testing namechange

OK, I work for the yha. There are a lot of misconceptions on this thread. Every member of staff has had safeguarding and diversity training. There are lots of family rooms. Many dorms are simply a 4 or 6 bed room that has been allocated as being a dorm. At my hostel we don't put children in dorms, they go on a room with their parent/family member.

In the 5 years I have worked for them we have yet to have the situation arise where a transgender guest has requested a dorm. We have had transgender guests, they have booked single rooms. We do not have communal showers or toilets.

But the statement stands.

Kit19 There are two trustees with extensive workplace experience in the realm of diversity & inclusivity. YHA has no excuse for not having considered ramifications.

They need to stand up and say they understand & will deliver what their membership / core customers want or boldly & openly state dorms are now unisex and see impact on bookings.

Hmmm. Duvet where did they get their diversity training from?

I've been youth hosteling a fair bit, both back when I was a young adult and also with my family. Mostly as a family i pay extra for a family room as I want to be with my husband. Are you telling me that if I went for the cheaper rate dorm you would simply put us in a family room anyway? Great! Good to know.

I've been in Scottish small hostels and not been able to get private rooms. We've had to go in single sex dorms, the kids and me and my husband separate. Essentially each hostel is different eh? It depends on space.

The principle remains. If I'm put away from my husband in a single sex space I expect it to be single sex. Thanks.

Duvet Your experience is in the past. Nobody is bothered by any transperson having a nice break and sitting down to breakfast.

The policy addresses future sleeping arrangements....with strangers. When the man with the beard named Jess turns up & wants the female dorm experience. As an employee you will have nothing to back you up in suggesting a single room may be a better option.

You haven't given an opinion on the need to give the history that would qualify you for singke-sex dorm. Do you feel that is reasonable ?

But the policy is allowing transwomen to book into single sex dorms (just because they have requested one so far doesn't mean they won't and preditory males may see the policy as an opportunity). The policy has put the onus on abused women to have to disclose abuse they have suffered to be entitled to share dorms without men bring present. In no reality is expecting people to have to disclose sexual assault for the purpose of accommodation acceptable. Not everyone will have even disclosed that information to people they love or a professional never mind an unqualified stranger. Safeguarding training will also not prevent women from being potentially assaulted as that possiblity is down to policy not training.

So they've updated the policy on the quiet - taking out the sentence about people who experienced sexual abuse , but leaving everything else the same.

So it still says contact us if you meet the "above criteria", but it now makes even less sense as there is no no clue to what bloody criteria they might be talking about.

Completely missing the point!

twitter.com/2010Equality/status/1165536576065146880?s=19

So the YHA continues to put the comfort of men above women. This could have easily been resolved by designating one room in every hostel as Unisex.
The YHA continues to demonstrate their disregard for the safety and dignity of women and children.
Won’t be using it and await the rebrand as the MHA.

What is the criteria ?

There are no criteria. The whole thing makes no sense

That Twitter thread shows they still don't understand what the Equality Act exemptions are! They seem to think it's something to apply on a person-by-person basis rather than, as pointed out, "when you have single sex dorms you are already using the exemption"!

I saw on Twitter that the policy had quietly been updated to remove the appalling line about revealing your status as a sexual abuse victim. Also that the Version number and author have been removed (this thread)

I do hope this isn't an attempt to brush things under the carpet, but rather a "Oh dear that's inappropriate, let's remove it while we review the policy properly". The whole thing makes zero sense. What criteria are they talking about? Presumably they still mean sexual abuse?!

The website in general still has next to no mention of the reality that a male-bodied person could be allocated to a room with 12 year old females in it thus creating a loophole for predators. It's advertised simply as "single gender" room, which most people interpret as a polite way of saying "single sex". The booking form simply says "Male" and "Female"

Come on YHA, sort it out. There's nothing wrong with having single sex dorms and housing trans people and/or those who don't mind a mixed sex room in a room advertised as a mixed dorm or in a private room.

I've seen LOADS of women on Twitter saying that they won't stay there again until they can be assured of single sex sleeping. I don't want women to feel unsafe in YHA. Surely the policy in its current form is excluding more people than they set out to include in the first place?!

To briefly revive this thread, I’ve just had a targeted Facebook sponsored ad thing, beseeching me to donate to save the YHA Snowden location.

I took the opportunity to explain exactly why I could not do that, given they put deceptive wording like this (pic) on their booking pages and make no mention of the fact “same gender” is meaningless and could easily be a whole bunch of female dicks alongside you, when you thought it was going to be an all-female dorm or shared room.

I was quite detailed as to why I was objecting, but I have no great expectation of anything other than a complete brush off (if they even reply at all).

“Female bed in a single gender room” reminds me of a story my father told of asking for a non-smoking seat on an airplane (years ago!). When he got on passengers in front, behind and on either side were smoking. So he complained but was told ‘yes your seat is nonsmoking but all the others are smoking seats’.

What shocked me was the perspective was entirely pro trans rights! No mention of the FACT that women have rights under the single sex exemptions enshrined in the EA 2010!

Will they judge whether your abuse was bad enough? What will constitute sufficient trauma? The idea of not only having to disclose your sexual assault but to have it judged by a stranger?!