Claims of indecent behavior involving a transgender person at the Waynesville Recreation Center roiled this tight-knight rural community last week, even after a town investigation found no evidence that any crimes were committed and that one of the allegations was completely unsubstantiated.
But if those allegations were meant to divide, deride or dishearten the people of Haywood County, they’ve proven to be a spectacular failure after a recent meeting of the Waynesville Town Council that will be remembered as a watershed moment for LGBTQ+ rights in a small Appalachian town nestled right in the heart of MAGA country.
HOW WE GOT HERE
On July 12, Jess Scott, a youth pastor from Clyde, made a now-deleted Facebook post saying that after his teenage daughter had been swimming at the Waynesville Recreation Center earlier that day, she told him a “full grown man” had entered the women’s locker room and changed into a bikini.
Implied in Scott’s post is that the person is transgender, or is a male who identifies as female.
The person at the center of Scott’s allegation has neither come forward nor been identified, but is referred to in previous reports from The Smoky Mountain News as “Jane Doe” (she/her).
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