Fairborn transgender woman stands trial for Xenia YMCA locker room incidents

Rachel Glines is charged with three counts of indecent exposure; judge will rule inn April after final briefs are filed
The Xenia YMCA, located at 336 S. Progress Dr. MARSHALL GORBY\STAFF

The Xenia YMCA, located at 336 S. Progress Dr. MARSHALL GORBY\STAFF

Visitors packed Xenia Municipal Court on Tuesday morning for the trial of a local transgender woman facing public indecency charges over incidents at the Xenia YMCA last year.

31-year-old Rachel Glines, 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 in which underage girls were present. The charges are all fourth-degree misdemeanors.

Witness testimony in court Tuesday morning indicated that Glines had been in a state of complete undress during all three incidents, which happened in the common area of the women’s locker room.

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

The women who encountered Glines described being deeply disconcerted and scared, with one mother saying she told her two daughters to hide in the showers until Glines left.

Xenia City Prosecutor Melvin Planas, prosecuting the case for the State of Ohio, noted that Glines’ actions “recklessly” caused the likelihood of indecent exposure, regardless of gender identity.

“Keep in mind that the standard here is ‘reckless,’ ” Planas said of state law on the subject, adding that state statute indicates that public indecency law applies if an individual’s genitals are “likely” to be viewed by others.

Glines’ defense told Judge David McNamee on Tuesday morning that the requirement for public indecency charges, that an offender’s genitalia had been exposed to others, was not met, as Glines’ genital area had been covered by other parts of the body.

Per testimony, all three witnesses said they did not see Glines’ genital area, either because they had removed themselves from the situation, or because the area was covered by other parts of the body.

As such, the state failed to prove sufficient cause for public indecency charges, Glines’ lawyers argued.

“Exposure is an inescapable and necessary element on its own that the state is required to prove,” said Lauren Dever, Glines’ attorney, adding that there was “not one iota of evidence” to support the state’s position.

However, Planas said, the idea that parts of one’s body being used as a covering is “ridiculous.”

Final briefs from both sides must be submitted by April 3, after which McNamee will issue a written decision, he said Tuesday.

A Motion in Limine, filed by Glines’ attorneys on March 8 and granted on March 16, asked that counsels for both the defense and state omit any references to Glines as male during court proceedings. Planas’ remarks Tuesday were peppered with objections throughout the three-hour trial as he continued to use male pronouns in reference to Glines.

Attorneys for both the prosecution and the defense declined to comment further until the judge’s decision has been issued.

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