TRAging - Port Townsend, WA, 15/08/22
58 miles from Seattle, Port Townsend, WA, is a Victorian seaside town on the northeastern tip of the Olympic Peninsula, near the Juan de Fuca Strait. It has a population of about 10,000, and residents tend to skew older.
Before
The series of events leading up to this protest was kicked off on 26th July 2022, when 80-year-old Julie Jaman was wrapping up a swim at the Mountain View pool, which is operated by the Olympic Peninsula YMCA. As she was washing in the women’s showers, she took note of a man in the vicinity who was allegedly watching young girls take off their bathing suits. After confronting him, Jaman was promptly banned from the pool by a staff member, but at the same time was prohibited from leaving until police arrived.
The Port Townsend Free Press, a local citizen-run news service, was among the first to break the story. They revealed that the man who Jaman had seen in the showers was, in fact, a part-time employee at the pool. It is noted in the article that the man, Clementine Adams, had been wearing a swimsuit when Jaman noticed him, with nothing to identify him as an employee.
Feminist news organization Reduxx covered the unfolding situation two days later, and revealed that Jaman staged multiple one-person protest outside the pool throughout early August, intending to warn other women that their showers were essentially mixed-sex.
On the same day, Amy Sousa, an educator and gender critic originally from Port Townsend, shared that she was aiming to organize a larger protest. The date for this press conference, 15th August, was confirmed when Sousa interviewed Jaman for her YouTube channel. It was set to be held at 5:30pm at Pope Marine Park, only a block from City Hall. The date and time were chosen because a city council meeting was set to take place just an hour later.
The protest/conference was also supposed to be against the mayor, David J Faber, who wrote a proclamation valuing the town’s transgender residents. The proclamation includes several claims, including that transgender people are at higher risk for crime and sexual assault. One particular paragraph states that 40% of trans-identifying adults attempted suicide in their lifetime, and 30% of trans-identifying children attempted within the last year. Leor Sapir debunked a similar argument regarding suicidal ideation in trans youth on Reality’s Last Stand.
Also in Amy Sousa’s interview was Jaman’s story in her own words. She spoke of protesting outside the pool, and falsified allegations of misconduct from the YMCA.
News of Jaman’s ban continued to spread, from a few pro-trans news sites to Feminist Current (which also did an interview with her) and the aforementioned Reduxx article. Her story eventually made national headlines, with the likes of the Washington Examiner and Fox News giving it attention. Coverage became international as GB News and the Daily Mail wrote on it, and the Australian Quillette conducted an interview with Jaman. Most coverage of her story was either feminist, appearing on Women Are Human, or conservative, being featured on Tucker Carlson Tonight.
The Mountain View pool closed around this time, most likely due to the heightened attention it was now receiving.
Transgender rights activists called for a protest in the days leading up to the planned conference. “School Board Bloc” pointed out how women attending the protest were planning to fly in from out of state as if this was a bad thing, though one of their “proof” screenshots does not mention anything about coming in from out of town. The account would also post that it would “be a shame if something happened to that sound system”, seemingly hinting at protestors that they should damage the equipment.
During
Throughout this section, I will reference several livestreams - the official press conference livestream on Amy Sousa’s YouTube channel, a Facebook Live recording by Jasmine Sage, Reverend Crystal Cox’s Rumble stream, and a stream on Odysee uploaded by “The Common Sense Conservative” (henceforth referred to as CSC). These will occasionally be interspersed with individual video clips. I think I should note here that just because I reference someone’s livestream, does not necessarily mean I agree with them.
Press conference attendees showed up early, about twenty minutes to a half hour before it was supposed to begin. Transgender rights activists had already arrived in preparation for their protest (2:00), including members of the John Brown Gun Club (2:55), a far-left organization in support of gun ownership.
Confrontations between conference attendees and protestors began early. Two women from opposing groups are conversing about something along the lines of private spaces when a tall, curly-haired man in a beige shirt walks up to them (5:25). He interjects, saying he is a taxpayer and pays for the street. The female protestor yells, “HEY! COME OVER HERE!” at someone, likely the protestors gathering on the other sides of the road. An attendee asks Beige Shirt to stop waving his hands in her face, to which he responds by intentionally doing this. The blonde attendee is filming the altercation, to which the female protestor tells her to “take it back a little”. Amy Sousa comes over to them a few seconds later and tells the other attendees to “not worry about her”.
The streamer, CSC, talks to Beige Shirt for a couple of minutes, in which time he says that he and the other protestors are nonviolent, and that it should be a peaceful day (7:52). Keep Beige Shirt in mind - he’ll be relevant later.
CSC walks around the conference area and the intersection for the next ten minutes, at one point mentioning that state patrol had blocked the street (12:36). A few city police officers can be spotted on the sidewalks as attendees and the occasional protestor cross to the conference area.
Sousa announces the one minute warning at the 19:20 minute mark, and female attendees can be heard chanting “We are ADULT. HUMAN. FEMALES. We want our SEX. BASED. RIGHTS.”. The beginning of the press conference can be heard on CSC’s stream around 21:00, as Sousa and two other women sing Savage Daughter, a song by Sarah Hester Ross. This is also where Sousa’s YouTube livestream begins.
The blonde woman in the cream suit on the left is Jennifer Thomas. In the middle is Gabrielle Clark, with curly hair and a white suit. Amy Sousa is on the right, and has a white suit top with a dark purple shirt, and large earrings. Remember this.
It doesn’t take long for the protestors to launch their usual tactic - noisemaking. As Sousa kicks off the press conference by retelling Julie Jaman’s story, a shrill whistle can be heard in the background. A man can be heard shouting very shortly after this. Despite their efforts, Sousa can still be heard very clearly.
She is not even a minute and thirty seconds into her speech when the protestors start cheering. This can also be seen on CSC’s stream (23:13), as he films about fifteen protestors riding bikes up the street. Over the next several minutes, the bikers ride over the street separating most of the protestors from the press conference, while ringing bells in an attempt to drown out Sousa’s speech. CSC mentions at 25:40 that there is zero police presence.
Rev. Crystal Cox is much closer to the bikers as they make their pass (5:00).
Press conference attendees see the writing on the wall and hold hands as the protestors get noisier (26:51). The bikers ride on a pathway much closer to the conference (28:00) as someone chants “TERFs go home”. A protestor with two extremely squeaky recorders walks past at about 28:35. The bikers do several more rides down the same pathway.
At 30:04, a protestor - Beige Shirt - throws himself to the ground and tries army crawling in the direction of the tripod holding Sousa’s phone - and her livestream. When blocked by a conference attendee, he takes to rolling and scooting on the ground in an attempt to get around him. He disappears from the camera for a moment, before re-appearing in what looks like an attempt at a reverse somersault. Occurring alongside this at 30:37, a protestor in a blue shirt is holding a sign out, likely attempting to get it onto Sousa’s livestream. She is blocked and escorted away by Gabrielle Clark.
A minute-long video of Beige Shirt sitting on the ground was recorded while Sousa was still speaking, likely after the above incident . He attempts to say he was pushed to the ground, but is corrected by women who say he voluntarily sat down.
After a lengthy opening speech, Sousa hands the microphone off to Julie Jaman. She manages to get a minute into her talk before one of the activists, a buff and heavily tattooed man, starts singing “If You’re Happy And You Know It” (32:47). He only sings one round of the song, and is also the only person clapping. A minute later (33:37), he takes note of Jennifer Thomas filming an interaction with a protestor. He walks up to her and attempts to knock her phone out of her hand, but fails. Just twenty seconds later (33:57), he’s squatting on the ground and banging a metal water bottle against the bricks, something that can be heard on Sousa’s livestream. This protestor, to be known as Buff Dude from here on out, will make several more appearances.
CSC notes that the press conference is completely surrounded at 34:40. Seconds later, Sousa’s livestream is interrupted as the camera tips forward. Someone shouts “Don’t touch our stuff!” as a loud tapping begins. This is Buff Dude hitting his water bottle once again (35:00). A conference attendee unfurls an umbrella to keep him away as Jaman loudly wishes for the police and protestors start to shout “trans rights are human rights”.
Perhaps sensing that the police aren’t going to do anything, one of the protestors sneaks into the conference circle and rips both suffragette flags down from the wall. Clark notices this and gives chase. On CSC’s stream, a conference attendee lunges out to block the flag thief (35:37), and both she and Clark grab the flags back as Jaman once again asks for the police. The thief runs off, having been unsuccessful.
Only a moment later, CSC’s stream shows Sousa confronting Beige Shirt as Jaman requests people call 911 (35:54). Beige Shirt goes down to the ground, and Sousa’s phone tripod tips forward, presumably due to him trying to sabotage the livestream. Rev Crystal Cox records him sitting on the ground (17:56), as the protestors switch their chant from “trans rights are human rights” to “transwomen are women”.
The next speaker introduced herself as Elizabeth Kreiselmaier, a Republican politician who at the time was running to represent Washington’s 6th congressional district in the House of Representatives. She only speaks for a couple of minutes, then hands the microphone off to Sousa, Clark, and Thomas, who sing Savage Daughter again. Shortly after, two men move into the camera’s view, holding up a large progress pride flag, prompting cheers from the protestors. Many of the conference attendees are beginning to move in behind the microphone, as the protestors begin to press them closer to the brick wall. The protestors’ proximity to the conference is shown very well on CSC’s stream (43:17).
After quite a while without seeing a police officer, CSC finally spots them - across the street, doing absolutely nothing while the protestors continued to crowd around the conference (44:20). Right around this time, one of the protestors attempts to stick her sign in front of the camera, much to Thomas’ annoyance.
A conference attendee in a white shirt is carrying a black sign with reflective pink letters (45:05). She is pushed backward by a protestor in a black hat who has either targeted her or fallen backward into her. Other conference attendees scuffle with him for a minute, during which time Sousa’s livestream goes dark, likely due to equipment damage. Sousa shouts for the police, and mentions that the protestors are attacking her equipment as well as women. Jennifer Thomas resumes speaking two minutes later; however, the video freezes and audio is broken up, likely due to damage.
A man who had recorded the scuffle went to talk to police and let them know about the assaults. In response, one of the officers said that if “they don’t feel safe being there, they’re free to leave”. Another woman talks to Rev. Crystal Cox and attests to this, sharing that she went to the police four times and they refused to do anything (27:11).
Once again, Beige Shirt is spotted on the ground at 46:17, and CSC mentions he is trying to move toward the amplification equipment. Rev. Cox also records him (28:20). Gabrielle Clark and an unidentified older man are doing a good job of blocking him. He’s still there a few minutes later, with Rev. Cox continuing to record him as he reaches through the older man’s legs at Jennifer Thomas (30:25). He manages to take her shoe off and throws it to the side, as Rev. Cox says that they still have no police protection. At 31:32, a woman in a hat and a dress walks up to Beige Shirt and attempts to pull him away, only to be pushed to the side by Black Hat, the man from the previous scuffle. After a short altercation, Black Hat uses one hand to push her, something that can be seen on CSC’s livestream at 50:29. He’s confronted by a man and a woman, likely both conference attendees, who tell him to stop multiple times. An alternate angle of this event can be found here.
Beige Shirt is still trying to get at someone at 32:07; however, his fun is cut short when the police finally arrive and pull him away (50:58 on CSC’s stream). They arrest Black Cap, but Beige Shirt runs away. Jennifer Thomas is understandably upset while relaying to the police that he stole her shoe and attempted to steal her phone. Sousa announces the attempted theft to the crowd at this time, and the next speaker takes the microphone shortly after.
The woman with the black sign who was assaulted earlier on now attempts to put her sign between two people, perhaps to help create a barrier (53:58). Buff Dude flips the sign up, then grabs it and throws it backward. The next conference speaker, an elderly woman, steps up not long after.
Only three minutes go by without another incident. A man in a red baseball cap can be seen talking to a woman (57:43), and he shoves her backward without provocation. Buff Dude gets between the two of them, and police walk over to talk to them a moment later.
The next speech begins, while a different man seems to be trying to break through the barrier of women - though he shouts “don’t fucking touch me” at them (1:01:48). He is pushed back, and shouts “back the fuck up”, but gives up. The speaker switches again at the end of the confrontation, and then again a few minutes later.
Sousa comes up and thanks those who attended the press conference, as well as those watching on the livestream. In the background, the older man with a white ponytail is blocking a blue-shirted protestor who has silently held her signs up throughout the conference (1:08:47). A man with a rainbow mask walks up and confronts him; however, he doesn’t get physical, likely due to the police nearby.
Meanwhile, Sousa’s livestream is continuing to have connectivity issues. It’s up just long enough to see the beginning of Rev. Cox’s surprise speech - though without audio - before it freezes and goes black. The stream ends four minutes later, with a frozen video briefly regained. Jasmine Sage managed to capture her speech on Facebook Live (28:22), though most of it is drowned out by shouts of “no hate here” and a programmed horn on a megaphone. The megaphone wielder shouts “why do you care what’s in someone else’s underpants” a couple of times (31:25). The event ends twenty seconds later, and the women begin to chant “We are ADULT. HUMAN. FEMALES. We want our SEX. BASED. RIGHTS.” once again.
Buff Dude takes the opportunity to make a run for the suffragette flags, which are on the ground after being retrieved from the previous thief (1:15:32). Just like the previous thief, he fails to get away with either of them.
The protestors don’t leave despite the conference concluding, so police step in and usher them away from the wall (33:40). They provide protection for the conference attendees as they exit around the building to a parking lot. Jennifer Thomas finds Beige Shirt and talks to an officer about him (1:18:37), and CSC notes how the counterprotestors will come around the side of the parking lot while leaving the area. Sure enough, a couple of them are interacting with a woman in a pink shirt, presumably about her sign, at 1:19:55. CSC takes a few minutes to interview Julie Jaman about her experience at the pool, and his livestream ends while he’s walking away.
Beige Shirt made his last appearance of the day, recorded harassing Jennifer Thomas while she was at her car. One of the other protestors was standing to his right.
One final video shows the pink-shirted woman and a friend walking on the streets with her sign, when she confronts a young man in a beanie who she believes is following the two of them (0:50). He says he is not stalking them, despite him being one of the same people who talked to her about her sign at the end of CSC’s livestream. Beanie says he wants to have a “good old-fashioned conversation”, and is joined by some of his buddies within minutes. Finally, Beanie steps forward and takes her sign, running off with it while his friends laugh (10:38). A picture of the torn sign was later posted.
Roughly thirty-five people, mostly women, came to attend the press conference, whereas estimates put protestor turnout between two hundred and four hundred. It’s likely the conference attendee count was higher before it was noted near the end of the event, as the protestor violence would have scared many of them away.
After
Journalists were very quick to jump on this story due to the violent nature of the protest. Matt Osborne, a writer for The Distance, penned an article that same day, and Jim Scarantino with the Port Townsend Free Press published his own telling of events on 16th August. Other writers for the Free Press who had attended the press conference were very quick to write their own stories. Reduxx had their own article,
Most of the outlets which covered the violent protest were the same ones which had published articles on Julie Jaman’s ban from the pool earlier that month - Reduxx, Feminist Current, Daily Mail, Fox News. Jaman was interviewed by gender critic Graham Linehan, as well as Newsmax, and also made an appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight.
Taking the side of the protesters were the PT Leader, as well as Port Townsend mayor David J Faber, who said that the “community showed up in huge and beautiful fashion”. He attempted to backpedal by condemning the violence just a few days later.
Transgender rights activists would describe the press conference as a “hate rally” and a “hate raid”. They would refer to the attendees as “fascists”, and claim that they were the ones assaulting protestors, not the other way around.
A related rally, “Stand for Decency”, would be organized and held on 3rd September, at the same location the press conference had been held at. Police response was significantly better, with barricades serving as separation between the rally and protestors, whose turnout was less than that of the previous press conference.
Amy Sousa would go on to testify at two city council meetings, one on 19th September, and another on 3rd October.
Katie Daviscourt at Rebel News would create a petition for the YMCA to reinstate her membership, which had gained nearly 11,000 signatures by the time it was dropped off on 6th October. However, the YMCA staff would refuse entry to Daviscourt, Sousa, and Jaman, and called the police on them. An incident report was filed, with the “incident” in question described as “Threats & Harassment”.
The Mountain View Pool, to what little credit they have, did listen to Jaman’s complaint that pride posters were not adequate warning that female-identified men would be allowed to use the women’s showers. “Inclusive restroom” labels were seen on doors and walls in October 2022.
Some time after the press conference, Rev. Crystal Cox would submit a Freedom of Information request regarding information from the event. She received police bodycam footage, recordings of 911 calls, and emails, among other things.
One bodycam recording proved that Chief of Police Tom Olson was aware of protestors with a baton and likely a gun, and did nothing (4:15). Buff Dude would actually walk up to the officers and speak to them about a stolen flag, prompting one of them to tell him that they were not taking any enforcement action. He is most likely referring to the progress flag which he was carrying around earlier on in the event, and this may be his motivation for attempting to steal the suffrage flags.
Tom Olson attempted to defend himself, saying the police department “lacked sufficient notice to prepare”, despite Sousa filing a permit for the event. As an excuse for police’s lack of response, he would state that the town’s entire police force (him and six other officers) were in attendance, tasked with controlling a 300-person-strong crowd. Given the previous paragraph, in which an officer stated that they were not taking enforcement action, we know that this is not true. No attempts to control the crowd were made until assaults had already occurred.
Another officer’s footage showed him approaching Beige Shirt to tell him he was under arrest, and that he would file charges once he’d contacted the victim. One of the other protestors would come up to Beige Shirt and remind him of his right to stay silent, and that he was entitled to an attorney. Beige Shirt would try to say that he had PTSD about being assaulted, despite assaulting conference attendees. The video ends with the officer walking away instead of placing him under arrest.
Beige Shirt, or Alex French, as he is legally known, would be arrested in a restroom a few weeks later, on 3rd September. He would be charged with robbery in the second degree, attempted robbery in the second degree, attempted theft in the second degree, theft in the third degree, and assault in the fourth degree. A GoFundMe with lies about an “anti-LGBTQ rally” that was “supported by Proud Boys” would be set up to cover his legal costs, but it only raised $340.
However, French received a godsend in the form of mayor David J Faber’s business partner, Sam Feinson, who represented him throughout his arraignment. Feinson recommended that the case not go to trial, instead proposing a continuance for dismissal, and also noted a 2017 DUI which he hoped the state would not take action against. Jennifer Thomas said in the comments of the above Free Press article that she believed the charges were reduced to disorderly conduct - which is likely what happened, as during an online hearing, he would plead guilty to this charge.
Odds and ends
Odds and ends are interesting morsels of information which reside here due to me being unable to fit them into the story.
Mayor David J Faber is… a bit of a weirdo. Two publications have published compilations of his overall strangeness, from immaturity and general unprofessionalism to joking about bestiality and defending a pedophile. (For that part on the Rice Purity Test: the lower your number is, the less “pure” you are. Think of it like a percentage - Faber is essentially bragging that he is only 17% pure.)
Mr. Menno, a gender-critical man notable for his parodies of famed songs, coincidentally released a parody of Village People’s YMCA in August 2022.
Clementine Adams, the transgender-identifying man whom Julie Jaman had seen in the showers, spoke out on a podcast released in September 2022. The Port Townsend Free Press took a dive, if you will, into the episode he appeared on.
Resources
Rev. Crystal Cox has a TikTok page, Twitter account, and a website dedicated to hosting the information she received in her Freedom of Information request. She would create separate Twitter accounts to host information on Alex French/Beige Shirt, David J Faber, City Council member Libby Wennstrom, and City Manager John Mauro (all of which are parodies, for Elon Musk reasons). She also had a “Public Record” account for the town.
YouTube playlist of short video clips
More coverage of the YMCA incident and press conference from Kara Dansky, Memories of the People, Butterflies & Wheels,