The first Asian American woman to sit on a Seattle-suburb local council has said she is ‘blindsided’ by an attempt to oust her after she backed a rally supporting a women-only, all-naked Korean spa which tried to stop pre-op trans women from entering.
Vivian Dong was prevented from speaking in her own defense at the Tuesday meeting of the Lynwood Public Facilities District.
Dong, a senior software engineer who was elected to the voluntary role on April 24 this year, said she had not been told in advance that her colleagues were seeking to remove her from the council.
They voted unanimously 4-0 in favor of a no confidence motion, and, unable to force her to resign, issued a recommendation of her resignation. She refused.
‘Personally, I wasn’t really prepared. I felt ambushed, set up and possibly discriminated against,’ Dong told the Lynnwood Times.
‘It’s been a shock, a total shock.’
Dong angered her colleagues by showing her support for an embattled Korean spa, which tried to stop trans women who have not had bottom surgery from attending their naked facilities.
Vivian Dong was elected to the local council in April, but after only three months her colleagues have tried to force her to resign
Janet Pope, the executive director of the Lynwood district, said Dong’s ‘crime’ had been to promote a rally in support of a Korean spa which tries to stop pre-op trans women from attending their naked facility
On June 17, Dong attended a rally in support of Olympus Spa, which saw around 250 people both backing the spa’s position and condemning it gather in front of the Lynnwood Convention Center.
Janet Pope, the executive director of Lynwood Public Facilities District, told Tuesday’s meeting that Dong had ‘promoted’ the rally, because she shared it on her social media.
Pope and her fellow board members claimed the June 17 rally cost businesses approximately $35,000 in lost revenue, and the District up to $12,500 in protest management.
Dong said she was never asked by her colleagues to remove her post promoting the rally, and she was in frequent contact with Pope before the rally to discuss the details.
Dong even confirmed with the District’s attorney, Matt Hendricks, on June 13 that attending the rally would not pose any legal problems.
She said she wanted to show her support for the spa and its owners ‘both as an Asian woman as well as the PFD board member to support our key tenant.’
The spa is run from a building owned by the PFD.
Protesters are seen on June 17 outside the Lynwood Event Center, amid the row over the spa
Critics of the spa are seen with their umbrellas facing off with those supporting the spa
Speakers addressed the June 7 rally, voicing their support for the spa and criticism of it
Wilvich claimed the spa said ‘transgender women without surgery are not welcome’ and complained to the commission
Pope, in an email obtained by The Lynwood Times, told Dong: ‘you are certainly allowed to attend and have your own free speech, just not representing the PFD.’
Pope, according to the newspaper, had been against Dong’s admission to the council from the start, arguing in internal documents obtained by the paper that she did not have the right experience and was too busy with her work.
While Lynwood has positioned itself as an ultra-woke city, with a website championing love, diversity and inclusion, Dong had established herself as an outspoken activist against woke policies.
In the three months since Dong was appointed, the District’s website has not been updated to include Dong in its list of board members: the other five have photos and biographies, but the sixth slot remains vacant, with a link back to a February 2023 application page.
Dong founded the Safe Lynwood group, and protested against the opening of a methadone clinic 400 feet away from the Alderwood Boys and Girls Club.
She has also used the Safe Lynnwood social media page to express her political stance regarding LGBTQ+ issues, which Board members said conflicted with the District’s ‘community-focused apolitical’ approach.
In a letter sent by the District Board, and publicly read during Tuesday’s PFD Board Meeting, the board wrote: ‘There is considerable evidence that board member Ms. Dong and her organization Safe Lynnwood were very involved in the promotion and organization of the event,’ referring to the June 17 rally.
‘Safe Lynnwood promoted the protest on social media and interacted frequently with several individuals involved in the event, including groups on national watch lists as extremist organizations.’
The June 17 rally was organized by Sovereign Women Speak, not Safe Lynwood.
The spa hit national headlines when a judge ordered it to admit pre-op trans women with penises, after an activist complained when the owner tried to ban them.
Olympus Spa had attempted to sue the Washington State Human Rights Commission (WSHRC) after being ordered to change their rules.
Trans woman Haven Wilvich’s membership application for the Korean spa was declined.
Haven Wilvich, pictured, had applied to join the spa but was denied. Olympus Spa offers memberships and day passes
She alleged the spa told her ‘transgender women without surgery are not welcome’ and complained to the commission.
The family-owned spa, which has a branch in Lynwood and one in Tacoma, is modeled on Jjimjilbang – sex-segregated bath houses in Korea – and offers monthly memberships and day passes.
In the initial complaint to the commission, Wilvich said she was a transgender woman who was ‘biologically male’ and had not undergone sex reassignment surgery.
Wilvich alleged that she had gone to the spa in January 2020 in search of a service but was discriminated against.
She claims that Olympus Spa told her that ‘transgender women without surgery are not welcome because it could make other customers and staff uncomfortable.’
In March 2021, the WSHRC had served the spa owner Myoon Woon Lee and the spa’s President Sun Lee with a Notice of Complaint of Discrimination.
The commission asked them to respond to the claims made by Wilvich, with Sun Lee releasing a statement standing by their decision.
Lee explained that Olympus was a family-owned ‘women’s Korean traditional health spa’ and noted that nudity was required for certain treatments.
He wrote: ‘We firmly believe it is essential for the safety, legal protection, and well-being of our customers and employees that we maintain adherence to this adaptation of a females-only rule.’
Lee explained that Olympus was a family-owned ‘women’s Korean traditional health spa’ and noted that nudity was required for certain treatments
Wilvich alleged that she had gone to the spa in January 2020 in search of a service but was discriminated against.
The spa disputed the Wilvich’s claims, asserting they had no documentation showing she had ever applied to enter the facility.
Lee also provided an education on the traditions of Jjimjilbang, which are large sex-segregated bath houses in Korea.
He concluded their response by saying that the spa was ‘willing to consider a review of [its] current biological females only policy’.
The caveat to that Lee said was that ‘we are unwilling to remake the ‘jjimjilbang” given they had ‘worked so hard over many years to build and preserve, simply for the sake of promoting gender neutrality.’
Judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein upheld the ruling made by the WSHRC and said that the measures taken by them had been lawful
The two also said that they are both Christian, and cited their faith as reasons as to why they did not wish to accommodate males in the facility.
The spa disputed the Wilvich’s claims, asserting they had no documentation showing she had ever applied to enter the facility.
But the WSHRC upheld their ruling, and offered the spa a Pre-Finding Settlement agreement to avoid prosecution.
The Pre-Finding Settlement required the spa to remove all references to ‘biological women’ on their site, and provide staff with ‘inclusivity’ training.
This the prompted the lawsuit from the Spa, saying their First Amendment rights had been violated.
The court offered Olympus Spa 30 days to amend their complaint and refile.
Wilvich had previously boasted about the success of her complaint on Facebook after the initial WSHRC ruling.
She said: ‘I did it! I worked with the WSHRC and got Olympus Spa (the main naked lady spa in the area) to change their policies and allow all self-identified women access regardless of surgery and genitals.’
