Gender bender: usually, the question of which locker room patrons must use is obvious--but not always.(Lessons Learned)

Juliene was a recreation director in Wisconsin when she was presented with a rather unique situation. It seemed there was a gentleman who had, on occasion, been using the women's locker room.

But this was no ordinary gentleman.

You see, "John" was in the final stages of a sex change. After being on hormone treatment for some time, his body was changing and now he had breasts. But he hadn't yet had the operation necessary to complete his sex change.

You can imagine how this would be an uncomfortable situation for John, as well as for the male and female patrons, especially when it came time to use the locker room.

John felt that it would be best for him to use the women's locker room. Unfortunately, the women and parents of young girls did not share the same enthusiasm. Juliene now had a major dilemma on her hands.

After conferring with the city's human resource department as well as the city attorney, Juliene got an answer. Until John completed the final step of his sex change, he was still a male and must use the men's locker room.

On his next visit, Juliene told John. However, he did not feel comfortable with the ruling and refused to comply. In her attempt to find a "win-win" situation, Juliene offered to let John use the side entrance gate to access the pool area directly. But John worried that would bring too much attention his way. He suggested using the staff locker room. Well, you can imagine how staff felt about relinquishing their private ...