A California mom who says she was recently kicked out of a sporting goods store after alerting a manager that man had frightened her young daughter in the women's restroom is demanding answers - and a policy change - from the Washington-based chain.

The woman, who spoke to FoxNews.com but asked not to be identified, said she was shopping with her 12-year-old daughter and the girl's younger friend when her daughter told her what had happened moments earlier at an REI sporting goods store during a shopping trip in late August.

"We started to drive to another store and she said to me, ‘Mom, I need to tell you something,’” said the woman. “I asked her what was wrong and she told me ‘A man used the bathroom while we were in there and it scared me.'”

When the mother turned the car around and went back to the store to confront the manager of the Santa Rosa store, she said she was stunned to learn that the man, who she said was not dressed in women's clothes and did not appear outwardly to be transgender, had done nothing wrong in the eyes of the employees and other customers.

"��I spoke with the manager and told her what happened," the mother said. "She didn’t skip a beat. She told me that REI does not decide who people are or what they can do.”

The exchange didn't stop there, according to the woman, who said the unidentified store manager lectured her in front of customers before ordering her to leave.

"She told me that if a man came back into the bathroom that they would do nothing," she said. “That they had no right to tell someone which bathroom to be used. Then she told that if it happens again that I shouldn’t expect anything to be done about it.”

The angry mom contacted The Pacific Justice Institute, a California-based law advocacy group, which has fired off letters to both the Santa Rosa store and company headquarters calling for an apology and a clear policy to protect the safety and privacy of customers using public restrooms. The legal nonprofit cited California's civil rights laws, a building code mandating gender-specific restrooms and the right to privacy set forth in the state constitution.

“It’s one thing for a stranger of the opposite sex go into the ladies bathroom and traumatize young girls,” Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, told FoxNews.com. "It’s another to have the sanction and blessing of the store manager.

“Any reasonable person would feel shocked and emotional violated with a member of the opposite sex coming into their restroom,” he added. “This man’s intention, whatever they may have been, in no way negates the shock.”

A spokesperson for REI, which stands for Recreational Equipment, Inc. and has 140 stores in 33 states, said officials are are looking into the alleged incident.

"Everything REI does is for our members and customers, so we pay close attention to all customer comments," REI spokesman Mike Ferris said. "Walking into an REI should always be a great, positive experience that helps you explore the outdoors. REI customers can be assured that safety in our stores is paramount. We are looking into this report to get the facts and understand the circumstances fully."

California is grappling with the issue of transgenders and public restrooms, passing a recent, controversial law mandating that public schools allow students to choose the restroom associated with their own gender perception. The city of West Hollywood in 2014 began requiring all businesses to make their single-stall restrooms gender-neutral. Similar laws were passed in Washington, D.C., in 2006 and Philadelphia in 2013, where it was required that new or renovated city-owned buildings must include unisex bathrooms.

The California law has been met with opposition, with a counter bill being proposed for a November 2016 ballot. The Personal Privacy Protection Act aims to mandate that people in government facilities would use a restroom according to their biological sex and not based on which gender they may identify with, The law also aims to protect business owners from potential lawsuits for requiring that employees use bathrooms based on their sex.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/10/02/calif-mom-claims-retailer-booted-her-for-complaining-about-man-in-girls/?intcmp=hplnws

If I had a 12 year old daughter and some man followed her into the bathroom I wouldn't be telling the manager, I would be knocking his a$$ out and calling the cops then after he was out cold I would tell the manager if I wasn't stomping on the guys head.

So I wonder how hard the left will try to hide the year over year numbers for crimes committed by pedophiles in the state with the new laws in place?

Also, you gotta believe with such an apparent lack of concern on the part of this store, the local kiddie diddlers are likely standing outside the door first thing in the morning with a coffee and the paper!

For them, this place must be like a target rich environment. Wonder how many moms and kids will start carrying tasers and mace now? Personally?Heaven help the guy if I caught him molesting a kid in a sporting goods store.

Lemme see, oh, there's a nice 34 " aluminum baseball bat. You know *clang!*, I always had good power to left field *clang!*. Oh hello officer *clang!*, no, no, just working on my swing *clang!*

I wouldn't need a bat. I would break his face with my fist.

gender neutral will be the law of the land the way same sex marriage is,,,,,who are we to determine how to treat people based upon some little anatomical difference?


,, get prepared,,,start having a different 'perception' so you can just accept it,,,


[in case you cant read it in the phrasing, I in no way agree this is how it SHOULD be, but I am facing reality that this is how it 'will' be)

The guy wasn't some cross dressing tranny. This was a pervert following a kid into the bathroom.

The GLAAD people have really gave pedophiles a good defense, almost a perfect cover. All's they have to do is claim they feel like they are a woman and they can watch all the little girls they want in the bathroom.

All's I know is if I see a grown a$$ man following a little girl into a bathroom he's going to get busted up and bad.

There are three things that set me off... Women beaters, rapists and child molesters.

REI is not the babysitter. The Mother is. I never left my child. If my dauthers needed to use restroon I took them to the men's room stood by the stall. When they were 12 they use the women's but I never left the door. no one ever complained about me guarding my children.

I need a lot more than a third hand story like this, to get all wrapped up in a paranoid witch-hunt/political frenzy fantasy.

I have MYSELF been in stores with bathrooms, and been told to go ahead and use the women's room when the mens room was being cleaned. Granted, not when an UNATTENDED CHILD was in one, but then I haven't been in an area where parents sent their child to a restroom alone to begin with.

This story is told in an exaggerated and hyped up non-factual manner as well. "The man FOLLOWED THE CHILD into the bathroom." That claim isn't even supported in the more detailed telling of the story, which is only that a child told her parent that a man came into the bathroom while she was there.

Granted, I have heard the current idiocy about transgender people calling for legal right to go into whichever bathroom makes THEM feel more comfortable, and how lots of other people want to worry only about homosexuals seeing them take a leak. That is entirely nuts, no matter which side of things you're on, but some on. You have to admit that this is classic Fox News hyping up of a possibly staged event, with claims ONLY supported by the angry parent.

it doesn't matter what a transgender wears. they don't HAVE to wear dresses. Women don't HAVE to wear dresses. So that's really not going to be relevant to transgender rights.

are they going to ask everyone going in the bathroom whether they are transgender? if they are not,, than we are stuck with 'gender neutral' which means if the anatomy doesn't matter for some, it wont matter for ANY

just how it is and is going to remain,,,,,,

so at what age was it ok for them to go unattended,,,just curious, for instance, in school kids are permitted to go to bathrooms unattended, so did you avoid public school education?

Are you aware that schools all block random people off the street from wandering into the buildings at all? In other words, a school bathroom is only similar to a public store bathroom, in that they both contain plumbing.

are you aware there have been school personnel ,and other students, who were creepy kid lovers?

back to your point though..

at what age did you allow them to go to the bathroom unaccompanied?

did they wait until they were 18 or what?

until they were 16 had drivers lincense. When they were older I stood at the door. My children were more important than shopping. I never left my child alone anywhere. When they were in school I assume the school was keeping my children safe.

Yea, but they have to provide a safe secure environment for their customers and kicking the woman out for bringing it to the managers attention........

Good for them, but I guarantee you if I see a grown a$$ man follow a little kid into the bathroom he's getting hurt. PERIOD.

Looking for friends to chill with me and the wife a bi girl If possiable

I understand, I believe there is more than one way to raise children, I just wanted to understand how helicopter parents decide when its time to 'let go'

my childs safety is important to me too, but I always felt that my approach to life would impact theirs, and though I wanted to raise them to be 'cautious', but not scared

the teen years were the times when we were 'let go' to implement the caution and good choices we had been raised with,,,, I feel the issue here was a man in the womans room, whether there had been a child or a female there,,,

if my 12 year old had to go into a private room in a store I was standing at the door. When they graduated high school had good heads I told them to explore the world. I don't think I was a helicopter dad. Just when they were with me I was with them.

WHY? Did the last one die in the basement where you had her chained up?

Really? In a pedophilia thread?

I wasn't a helicopter parent either, but I always knew what was going on. If my daughter went out with friends, I was there if I was concerned (she didn't know I was there but I was, I guess that's the PI in me....). She also knew if she screwed up there would be hell to pay and if she ever needed help I was only a phone call away. She came out of it with a good hear on her shoulders. Just graduated High School with a 4.0 GPA and was on the National Honor's Society and got a full ride scholarship to college and law school.

I guess I did something right, except for the fact that she wants to become a lawyer