Parents raised concerns over transgender pool official using women’s changing room at same time as young girls
- Anne Coombes, 65, used the women’s changing room as a walkthrough
- She recently blasted a hotel for not giving her a key to a female changing room
Parents have raised concerns over a transgender pool official using the women’s changing room at the same time as young girls during a teenage swimming competition.
Anne Coombes, who last week blasted a hotel spa for not giving her a key to a female changing room, was volunteering at the British Summer Championships which was held at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield.
Parents complained that both they and their daughters felt ‘uncomfortable’ as Ms Coombes, a 65-year-old trans woman, used the female changing rooms as a walkthrough during the competition which finished yesterday.
The outcry from parents led to British Swimming changing its guidance so that changing rooms can only be used by competitors getting changed and not as an access route.
One parents, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Telegraph: ‘My daughter was in the changing rooms when this person walked through. And then came back again to use the toilets.
Parents have raised concerns over transgender pool official Anne Coombes (pictured) using the women’s changing room at the same time as young girls
Ms Coombes was volunteering at the British Summer Championships which was held at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre (pictured) in Sheffield
‘She came and told me. How intimidating must it be to be a girl, changing in a women’s space, when this happens? And these girls feel that they can’t complain in case they get labelled as transphobic.’
READ MORE: Trans woman who blasted hotel spa for not giving her a key to female changing rooms sparks furious row with critics
British Swimming confirmed that Ms Coombes used the changing rooms as a walkthrough route at the competition yesterday and was not using it as a changing facility so no separate area was needed.
After implementing stricter guidelines to ban non-competitors entering the changing rooms, British Swimming has also heightened security in changing rooms, while accreditation checks and an email was distributed to remind volunteers not to use the changing rooms as a walkthrough.
The sports body said that once it had received a complaint about one of its volunteers, it ‘immediately followed procedure to correctly identify the necessary facts’.
A spokesman added: ‘Having established the details, relevant protocols were reviewed and all volunteers working on the event have been reminded of their responsibilities in adhering to our protocols.’ British Swimming confirmed it passed on requests for comments to Ms Coombes.
The 65-year-old, who is extremely active on social media, has previously spoken about her ‘determination’ to use female changing rooms in the past.
In a 2021 blog post she wrote: ‘I don’t actually want to upset anyone, but I am determined that I am going to use the female changing rooms. I am not going to be shunted off to a separate facility such as a disabled changing room.
‘As I see it, the problem with that solution is that once it is taken, not only are you identified as being different but it will inevitably become permanent.’
It comes less than a week after Ms Coombes sparked a furious row with critics including Sharron Davies after she alleged a member of staff at the Mercure Hotel in Sheffield had ‘assumed’ she wanted to use the unisex changing facilities. She also demanded that the worker was sent for gender sensitivity training.
The outcry from parents led to British Swimming changing its guidance so that changing rooms can only be used by swimmers getting changed and not as an access route. Pictured: Ponds Forge
Furious at being treated ‘as if I am not a woman’, she tweeted: ‘I am so f*****g angry. I’m at the Mercure Hotel in Sheffield and I fancied using the swimming pool. I couldn’t get my locker key to work on the ladies.
‘Turns out the assistant had “assumed” I wanted the unisex changing room. With me dressed like this’, sharing a picture of her in a blue skirt and top on Sunday.
She added: ‘This is the first time anyone IRL (in real life) has treated me as if I am not a woman… decent people accept the rule of self identity. If in doubt then find a polite way to ask, don’t assume’.
It is not clear whether Ms Coombes was staying as a guest at the hotel, but she said she later went back down to ‘ask that the person in question is sent on a diversity, equality and inclusion course’.
When MailOnline approached Accor, the company which owns Mercure, they did not respond.
Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies, who is campaigning to keep biological men out of women’s sports, responded to Ms Coombes’ tweet, saying: ‘You’re male, use the changing room with other males or at the very least the unisex changing room! Deciding you wanting to change where you want to change does NOT trump women & girls rights. Ps I don’t know a single female that would subject that level of discomfort on others’.
The trans woman replied: ‘Sharron you know nothing about me, and all you know about the incident is what I have revealed. Don’t presume to know things about me with no evidence. It shows an arrogance which is not becoming.’
TalkTV presenter Julia Hartley-Brewer also weighed in, tweeting: ‘Yeah, sure, what all women and girls are looking for when they’re naked in a changing room is a big angry man who demands to be in there with them because he’s dressed as a woman. Uh huh.’
Ms Coombes tweet on Sunday went viral and the following day she said: ‘I have been overwhelmed by the number of people who have gone out of their way to state their concern and offer their support whether virtual or real. Thank you to each and everyone of you, I value your standing up as an ally.
It comes less than a week after Ms Coombes (pictured) sparked a furious row with critics including Sharron Davies after she alleged a member of staff at the Mercure Hotel in Sheffield had ‘assumed’ she wanted to use the unisex changing facilities
She posted the photo above and alleged that she was refused a locker key to the female changing room
‘And to all those people who weren’t on my side, I’m sorry but I will continue to exist, I am not going away. It doesn’t matter how much you lie about me I will still be here when you have run out of things to say’.
The response to her tweets have been mixed. One ally said: ‘Sorry to hear this has happened to you Anne and also sorry for the abuse you have had to put up with. Standing with you’.
But one critic said: ‘Why couldn’t you use the unisex changing room if you know you make some women uncomfortable? How hard is that?’
It comes as women’s rights campaigners, including author JK Rowling, desperately try to stop public bodies and businesses replacing separate male and female toilets with gender neutral ones which are more welcoming to trans people.
From the National Trust to UK theatres and even the Houses of Parliament, proposals to install gender neutral toilets have been blasted as woke and dangerous.
Late last month, The Telegraph reported that a teenage boy was reportedly arrested over allegations that female pupils were sexually assaulted in the gender-neutral toilets at another secondary school in Essex.
In response, JK Rowling has warned that gender neutral toilets are sacrificing girls’ ‘safety, privacy and dignity’.
MailOnline has contacted British Swimming and Ponds Forge International Sports Centre.
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