Trans woman faces hate messages, death threats after identity revealed in Olympus Spa lawsuit

LYNNWOOD, Wash. - A King County woman says she has been bombarded with hate messages and even death threats from around the world after court documents revealed she filed a complaint with the Washington State Human Rights Commission against a spa in Lynnwood.

The lawsuit doesn't actually name Haven Wilvich as a defendant, but it is connected to a complaint Wilvich filed in 2020 after she said she was denied access to Olympus Spa in Lynnwood.

"I called ahead to see if I would be allowed to attend as a trans woman, unfortunately, I was told no," said Wilvich.

Wilvich says the spa had an issue with her not having undergone gender-affirming surgery at the time she called three years ago. But according to Washington state law, she had a right to be there.

"It was illegal to exclude trans women from women's spaces," said Wilvich. "So, I reached out to the Washington State Human Rights Commission (WSHRC) in hopes they could help the spa change their policies and be more inclusive."

Under RCW 49.60.030, sexual orientation includes gender expression or identity, meaning a person doesn't have to have had gender-affirming surgery to be transgender.

WSHRC sided with Wilvich in 2021. Olympus Spa dropped the "biological women" phrase from its website and staff underwent inclusivity training.

Also read: Trans minors protected from estranged parents under Washington law

"I was told the case was over, and the spa had changed their policies. It wasn't until last week that I heard otherwise," said Wilvich.

In June, a Western Washington District Judge made a motion to dismiss a countersuit from Olympus Spa.

"I'm glad that there are laws that protect people like me in the state and that judges are willing to uphold those," said Wilvich

However, Wilvich was caught off guard because she says she didn't even know about the lawsuit, which the spa filed against WSHRC's Executive Director in 2022, saying their First Amendment rights were violated on religious and cultural grounds.

"It's still disappointing to see the amount of animosity that goes towards our community every time these laws are upheld," said Wilvich.

Wilvich doesn't regret filing the complaint, but since court documents from this motion to dismiss revealed her full name and that she filed the initial complaint, Wilvich says she has suffered harassment.

"[The threats are] coming from people who claim to be feminists, groups known as TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists) and from the far-right," said Wilvich.

Wilvich doesn't want others who file complaints with WSHRC to endure the threats she says she has and believes the agency's complaint process should be updated.

"I think minority people who report hate crimes and violations of human rights laws should be protected from public disclosure," said Wilvich.

Despite pride month getting off to a distressing start for Wilvich, she says she is not defeated.

"Nobody should be subjected to hate speech and threats of violence because of who they are in this country," said Wilvich.

She and her wife, Molly, are moving forward and celebrating their trans joy.

"The thing that they hate the most is when we're happy," said Molly Wilvich.

Olympus Spa was given 30 days to file an amended complaint and their attorney, Tracy Tribbett of the Pacific Justice Institute says they intend to do so as she has found issues with this motion.

"We will go through briefings, oral arguments, most likely a motion will be granted, we will appeal to the 9th circuit, and we will likely ask for review from the Supreme Court because these are important issues for Washingtonians and for the country at large," said Tribbett.