EXCLUSIVE: LA mom recalls her shock after person with a 'beard and penis' got into women-only hot tub with her six-year-old daughter at Wi Spa - where clashes between trans activists and rival protesters broke out last week
When Anita took her six-year-old daughter to a Los Angeles Korean spa last year, she went with an open mind and a desire to experience a different culture.
But she never expected to encounter a person with a beard and an exposed penis in the women-only hot tub.
She was so shocked to see what appeared to be a naked man confidently joining the women's space, which included several small children, that she reported the incident to police, feeling her young daughter had been a victim of indecent exposure.
Last week Anita, who asked DailyMail.com to obscure her identity in fear of being 'canceled' and losing her job, was dismayed to come across a viral video alleging a similar incident at the spa.
The video sparked violent protests outside Wi Spa in Los Angeles last weekend - one side believing transgender rights were being threatened, the other wanting to protect the innocence of their children and the safety of women's private spaces.
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Los Angeles mother, 'Anita,' who asked to obscure her identity, described her uncomfortable experience visiting Wi Spa in Los Angeles with her young daughter last January, in an interview with DailyMail.com
The Koreatown spa made headlines last week after a viral video showed a woman complaining about a transgender woman exposing their penis in a women-only steam room
Anita, a registered Democrat, said she's an LGBTQ supporter but still wants to protect her six-year-old daughter's innocence
Anita, a millennial daughter of Latin immigrants, says she is a Democrat voter and a supporter of the queer community, but felt compelled to speak out about the thorny issue in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com.
'I read about the spa in a magazine, the LA Parent, and I'd driven past it before late at night and it almost looks like a nightclub, with cars lined up waiting to get in,' she said.
'It's in Korea Town and is super-Korean. There's entire families – moms, dads, two kids, and they're just hanging out at all hours. It just seemed like a really cool thing to try with my daughter.'
Anita described her January 2020 visit to the spa, which has a clothed section for both sexes, and separate sections for men and women with locker rooms, hot tubs, massage, relaxation and pampering rooms where patrons are traditionally unclothed.
'When I walked into the women's section everyone was naked,' she said.
'I wasn't raised to be super comfortable being naked around others. But I'm from LA and it's kind of hip to participate in authentic cultural things.
'I didn't want my daughter to feel uncomfortable and I saw a lot of little Korean girls naked with their grandmas and their moms, it was really cute actually. I was like, wow this is something that I didn't know existed, this is awesome.'
Anita and her daughter put on face masks, ate snacks and hung out in the sauna. Then the little girl asked to swim in the hot tub.
'We were in there with five or six other women. She was swimming and splashing at me and stuff,' she said.
'Then these three people came and sat down on the edge of the hot tub. It was two women and what appeared 100% to be a man.
Tense protests erupted Saturday outside the California spa with one side believing transgender rights were being threatened, while the other wanting to protect the innocence of their children and the safety of women's private spaces
The protests came after a video was posted to Instagram by an account named Cubana Angel which shows the furious woman complaining to a spa staff member about the alleged exposure
'All three people were white. The two girls had tattoos and colored hair. I don't like the whole race-baiting thing, but I would categorize them as the privileged, white, progressive-type people.
'They came in with this air of entitlement. It was almost an aggressive attitude.
'I'm trying really hard not to get in trouble calling the person with a penis a male, but the 'guy' was this skinny white guy with scraggly long hair and a beard. He had a five o'clock shadow on him, and his penis and scrotum hanging out.
'The person I saw seemed like an activist… Almost enjoying everyone around them being uncomfortable.
'The other Korean women in the hot tub were looking at each other like 'what the f**k?' We all suddenly were quietly communicating with our eyes.
'The Korean were motioning at my daughter, she was giggling and splashing, she hadn't noticed.
'All around the locker room you see all the women suddenly whispering and this tense feeling.
'I saw old ladies poking out from behind the shower stall, holding their towels up, looking horrified. Nobody says anything. All the women are in shock but also don't want to say anything.
'I was in there for about a minute, then I said 'okay, honey, time to come out.'
'The whole time I was blocking my daughter's view of the penis, and one of the other Korean women maneuvered herself to block my daughter's view. Thankfully she has no idea this happened.'
Lily Weaver joins protesters in support of transgender people as they gathered across the street from the Wi Spa in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles
A counter protester holds a sign saying 'Shame on Wi Spa' at the protest in support of transgender rights near the Wi Spa in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles
Counter-protesters preach about Jesus to protesters gathered in support of transgender rights
Anita said the experience deeply shocked her, and she was almost in tears when she complained at the front desk.
'I was upset. They were very sympathetic, it was a really nice person. They said 'there's nothing we can do, it's a pre- person.' They offered me two free passes,' she said.
'Another woman came up to me in the locker room and told me the staff asked the trans to cover up but refused.
Anita said after she complained, the staff that day started warning customers there was a 'pre-op trans woman' in the women's section.
'This whole time I wasn't being angry or mean. I was just crying and I didn't know how to handle it,' she said.
'I came home and felt like s***. I in no way equate this to being abused or sexually assaulted but I had those same feelings where I just felt shame and I didn't want to tell anybody. I didn't tell my husband about it at all until the next day.'
Anita's husband encouraged her to make a police report. She said she got an initially sympathetic response from police at the local precinct's front desk, adding that the officers told her the incident could be reported as indecent exposure.
But she said a third officer who made the report was dismissive and blamed her.
'The third officer told me it was my fault and asked why I would take my daughter to a place like that, why would you put your daughter in that situation,' Anita said.
Koreatown resident and Wi Spa patron Brittany Blackhorn joins protesters in support of transgender rights who gathered across the street from the Wi Spa
Protesters could be seen brawling in the street as police declared the demonstrations as an unlawful assembly
LAPD officers face off with protesters in support of transgender rights who had gathered outside the Wi Spa in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles
'I felt like I got punched in the stomach and I just started crying.
'After that I didn't talk about it because I felt, I guess it was my fault, I guess I am stupid, my feelings are wrong because of trans rights.'
The millennial mother said she is petrified of being labeled a bigot, but wants to protect her daughter's 'innocence', and believes parents should be notified and given the choice before their children are exposed to the opposite sex's genitals.
'She's never seen a penis before, she doesn't have any brothers. Maybe other people don't think it's a big deal. But she's innocent still,' Anita said.
The LA mother said that she is worried some men may abuse laws designed to allow trans women access to private women's spaces like locker rooms, in order to expose themselves to women for sexual gratification or to attack them.
'You can't just believe people because they say it. I hate that the activists pretend that's not a thing. And forcing women and girls to be cool with it is not fair, we're entitled to feel uncomfortable,' Anita said.
Anita shared with DailyMail.com Uber and credit card receipts evidencing her trip to the spa in January 2020, and an email she wrote to managers complaining about the incident in the days after.
LAPD officers face off with protesters in support of transgender rights who had gathered outside the Wi Spa in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles
'I honestly don't know what the solution is. I definitely would have appreciated knowing in advance,' she told DailyMail.com.
'It's fine to have a co-ed spa, but I just wouldn't take my daughter there.
'I would like there to be a female genitals only space. Penises here, no penises on this side. I would appreciate having somewhere to go where I didn't think I would see a male penis.'
The clash outside Wi Spa on Saturday erupted after a woman posted a video on her Instagram account last month of herself complaining to spa staff that there was a naked 'man' in the women-only steam room.
The video went viral, prompting protesters to gather on Saturday outside the spa to campaign against the law which they believe puts women and children at risk.
Pro-trans counter-protesters also showed up.
Anita said she was at the protest but hid her sign for fear of being attacked by radical far-left group Antifa – who she claims started the violence that broke out in the street and led to police breaking up the demonstration.
Videos show an independent journalist was hit in the head with a pipe, and one protester stabbing another in the arm with a knife.
A reporter at the scene claimed it showed a 'far right anti-trans extremist' who 'stabbed one of their own'.
Some anti-trans protesters appeared to conflate being transgender with pedophilia, with signs and chants that said: 'pedophile is not a sexual orientation.'
Other pictures appear to show an anti-trans protester with a handgun.
In some footage, 'leftist counter protesters' were seen scuffling with police.
Police later declared the demonstrations as an unlawful assembly with five reports of assault.
Wi Spa said in a statement that California's anti-discrimination law protects transgender people but said it would not tolerate 'lewd conduct' by customers.