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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDebate becomes heated over gender-segregated hours at a Brooklyn community pool
The swimmers were Hasidic women, who abide by strict codes of modesty and who go to the Metropolitan Recreation Center in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, for an unusual feature: It is one of two city swimming pools with gender-segregated hours. The other is the St. Johns Recreation Center in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
Although Wednesday was the urbanites summer solstice the day that New York Citys 55 outdoor pools opened for the season and children could, at last, carom into the chlorine the swimming season at the placid indoor pool in Williamsburg lasts all year. But a tempest has been threatening it, and the women who have long seen the lap pool as a sanctuary are awaiting a decision that city officials now say is imminent about the future of the segregated swimming sessions.
For 20 years, the center has blocked off female-only hours to accommodate the areas large Hasidic population. The pool has no male-only hours, and some Hasidic men swim during the hours that are open to all genders. An anonymous complaint was lodged recently with the citys Human Rights Commission, which sent a notice to the parks department this spring saying that the policy might violate a city law barring gender discrimination in public accommodations.
A public furor soon ensued.
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Here in New York, where we have people from so many different backgrounds, the idea of being culturally sensitive is something that everybody talks about, said State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a Democrat who represents the heavily Hasidic area of Borough Park and has opposed ending the sessions. You might think, Wow, why should the city have to bend over to do this? But there is a lot of argument that this is all part of reasonable accommodation.
But Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, took the opposite view.
People who have a religious objection to men and women, boys and girls, swimming in the same pool at the same time have every right to their beliefs and to limit their swimming in accordance with those religious beliefs, she said. But they have no right to impose a regime of gender discrimination on a public pool.
What we have here is the imposition of a religious dogma to the detriment to the rest of the city, she added.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/30/nyregion/pool-rules-no-running-no-eating-or-drinking-no-men.html
snooper2
(30,151 posts)I'm sure there is a rooftop somewhere they can put one up on LOL...
Only a couple hundred bucks for one of these
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leftynyc
(26,060 posts)who can't bear the thought of men and women swimming together. NO accommodation for them. NONE.
mythology
(9,527 posts)The pool was women only for some amount of time to provide a safe space for women? I know of some gyms that offer women only hours so women can work out without guys being a pain.
Likewise the parkour group I train with has a women's class.
I don't see anything wrong with actively creating space for women.
Does that significantly differ in outcome from this? I'm not sure that it does.
leftynyc
(26,060 posts)they need to hire security. It shouldn't have to come down to separating the genders. That's ridiculous.
LoverOfLiberty
(1,438 posts)Men deserve safe space as much as women do.
People on this site lose their collective minds when its uncovered that there is a mens only space in a private organization but are fine with women only spaces in a public organization.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)women do not sexually harass men.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)leftynyc
(26,060 posts)Private organizations are free to do what they want. Those that are using my tax dollars are a different kettle of fish (is that the right saying?).
Initech
(100,063 posts)Seriously it's fucked up. They're so preoccupied with sex that they think any time men and women are together in the same room, it's going to turn into sexy time. I left a church like that because we went to a theme park and on the ride back they were trying to get me to ride with people who I didn't know because that would have meant a disproportionate number of men and women in the same car. And I was just like "what the fuck", and they explained that, and I'm like "what do you think is going to happen on a 45 minute car ride back?", and they're like "you know". I'm responding "No I don't." and one of the guys winked at me like "you know.". At that point if Uber had existed back then (it was 2002-ish), I would have paid whatever it was and taken an Uber back home and never want anything to do with them again. And this is Southern California, by the way, not the deep south.
Mass
(27,315 posts)If it is just a few hours, I do not see the problem. If it is 50% of the time, it is too much.
struggle4progress
(118,278 posts)about nine entirely free outdoor pools and about nine public beaches
Some costs at recreation centers are covered by a $150/year membership fee (for facilities with pools) -- which confers access to all recreation centers. The Metropolitan Recreation Center pool is open about 80 hours/week with 8 hours/week restricted female only. The St. Johns Recreation Center pool is open about 72 hours/week with 2 hours/week restricted female only
struggle4progress
(118,278 posts)Jun 6, 2016 · by Cindy Rodriguez
... Swimmer Jen Hyde said she liked the idea of ladies only swimming and would take part in it too, if only the ladies were more her speed.
"It's just older ladies swimming at a slower pace so it isn't conducive to swimming fast," she said.
On this particular Sunday, the swimmers were short on complaints. Hermes Payrhuber said he'd like to get to a point where gender is a more flexible term, but until then, he respects all-female swim hours.
"I want every lady to feel comfortable," he said. "In whatever she is believing in and whatever it takes for her to be in her place comfortable .... It's a public space so we have to share that"...
http://www.wnyc.org/story/public-pool-religious-accommodation-swimmers-dont-seem-mind/
LoverOfLiberty
(1,438 posts)paid for by the public for use by the public.
If a religious group wants to dictate the rules of a pool, let them build their own.
Coventina
(27,101 posts)If the community wants exclusive female hours, so be it.
If the vote is "no" then either a. hire security if it's a safety issue or b. Fundies build their own pool.
msongs
(67,395 posts)Gormy Cuss
(30,884 posts)because it's a tiny fraction of the hours that the pools are open and both pools are in communities with large populations who would benefit from such accommodation. The NYCLU has a valid point though.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)If not, that would be city-sanctioned transphobic bigotry.