Source: SFGate
“A San Francisco bathhouse’s policy to restrict access to transgender individuals on select nights is now under investigation by the San Francisco Human Rights Commission. Russian-style spa Archimedes Banya announced earlier this month that its designated women’s only night would now be limited to those who were assigned the sex at birth, with the spa’s operators claiming the change was intended to create a ‘phallus-free environment’ for patrons from religious and cultural backgrounds to ensure their comfort. The policy, first posted to the bathhouse’s website, sparked immediate backlash. Customers and members of the Bay Area’s transgender and intersex communities criticized the move, inundating the business’s Yelp page with one-star reviews, prompting the platform to suspend new ratings and place a disclaimer on the listing. ‘Trans women should not be treated as scapegoats for misogyny by cisgender male staff, leadership, and patrons,’ one reviewer wrote.” (03/07/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/archimedes-banya-bathhouse-transgender-policy-20209154.php