Olympus Spa petitions Supreme Court over Washington gender identity ruling

The owners of Olympus Spa, a traditional Korean women-only nude spa in Washington, have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit ruling regarding the state’s public accommodations laws.

The spa, which offers services such as communal steam rooms and full-body scrubs, maintains an anatomy-based entry policy. The owners, a Korean Christian family, argue that their policy is rooted in both religious convictions and cultural tradition, asserting that men and women should not be unclothed together outside of marriage. The current dispute follows a 2020 complaint alleging that the spa’s refusal to admit transgender women without specific surgical procedures violated the Washington Law Against Discrimination.

Legal representatives from the Pacific Justice Institute and Alliance Defending Freedom argue that the state’s enforcement violates the First Amendment’s free exercise clause. They contend that the government should not require businesses to forfeit sincerely held religious beliefs to operate. The petition asks the Supreme Court to determine if Washington’s mandate to admit biological males into female-only spaces constitutes unlawful discrimination based on gender identity.