Fairborn transgender woman faces trial over Xenia YMCA locker room incidents

Visitors filled Xenia Municipal Court Tuesday morning at the trial of a local transgender woman accused of public indecency in connection with incidents at the Xenia YMCA last year.

Rachel Glines, 31, of Fairborn, was charged in Xenia Municipal Court with three counts of public indecency for incidents in September and November 2022 and a third incident between November 2021 and 2022 involving underage girls. All charges are misdemeanors of the fourth degree.

Testimony in court on Tuesday morning showed that Glines was completely naked during all three incidents, which took place in the common area of ​​the women’s locker room.

Xenia police received “several complaints about a naked man in the women’s locker room” of the YMCA branch, which is located on Progress Drive in Xenia, according to a criminal case.

The women who confronted Glines described being deeply confused and frightened, and one mother said she told her two daughters to hide in the shower until Glines left.

Xenia City Attorney Melvin Planas, who is handling the Ohio case, said Glines’s actions “recklessly” raised the possibility of indecent exposure regardless of gender identity.

“Keep in mind that the standard here is ‘recklessness,'” Planas said of state law on the matter, adding that state law specifies that public obscenity law applies if a person’s genitals are “likely” to be seen by others.

Glines’ defense told Judge David McNamee on Tuesday morning that the requirement for a public indecency charge that the perpetrator’s genitals be exposed to others was not met because Glines’ genital area was covered by other body parts.

According to testimony, all three witnesses stated that they did not see Glines’ genital area, either because they moved away from the situation or because the area was covered by other body parts.

Thus, the state failed to prove sufficient grounds for accusations of indecency in public, Glines’ lawyers argued.

“Revealing is an inevitable and necessary element in itself that the state has an obligation to prove,” said Lauren Dever, Glines’ attorney, adding that there was “not a shred of evidence” to support the state’s position.

However, according to Planas, the idea of ​​body parts being used as cover is “ludicrous”.

Final summaries from both sides are due by April 3, after which McNamee will issue a written decision, he said Tuesday.

A motion in Limine, filed by Glines’ lawyers on March 8 and granted on March 16, requires defense and state attorneys not to refer to Glines as male during the trial. Planas’ remarks Tuesday were peppered with objections throughout the three-hour trial as he continued to use masculine pronouns to refer to Glines.

Lawyers for both the prosecution and the defense declined to comment further until the judge’s decision was announced.

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