Staff at the Columbus Zoo and the executive director of Trans Ohio plan to talk about adjusting the dress code at Zoombezi Bay to be more inclusive and clear.
The water park's dress code states clothing can't seem "inappropriate in a family environment" and that park management determines the appropriateness of swimwear.
After speaking with a young trans man who felt singled out during a recent visit to the park with his family, WOSU reached out to the water park and Trans Ohio's Executive Director Dara Adkison.
"I would say that their policy right now is just too vague. It needs to be more overt and not leaving stuff up to whatever an individual employee may be feeling," Adkison said.
Adkison said dress code policies that depend too heavily on someone's interpretation can be harmful.
"At the end of the day, trans people just want to go to the water park or exist in other public spaces without needing to feel the need for self-scrutiny or, you know, be concerned about what scrutiny from others could mean," Adkison said. "There are any number of situations in Ohio or the U.S. where someone scrutinizing the body of a trans person could end up leading to violence as opposed to, you know, being forced to put on another shirt. And both are horrible, but the fear is very real there for folks."
Adkison offered to help the park clarify its policies. Jen Fields, the park's communications director, said they're open to reviewing the policy to make it "as clear, inclusive, and welcoming for all guests as possible."
"We regularly review our policies to ensure they reflect our commitment to providing a welcoming environment for all guests, and we remain open to making changes when we are able," Fields wrote in an email. "If any guest has concerns about how our dress code has been applied, the best way to reach us is through our Contact Center by phone at (614) 645-3400 or by email at info@columbuszoo.org. This allows us to gather information, address the situation directly, and determine any next steps."
Fields said the park's vice president of Zoombezi Bay and guest services and the director of diversity, equity and inclusion will work with Trans Ohio.
The park has also offered to meet with Alex Maruskin. He's the 18-year-old trans man who decided to publicly share his uncomfortable experience at Zoombezi Bay this summer.
"I was not exposed. I was wearing a shirt that covered like all of my chest. It was open, but it wasn't anything different than like a regular t-shirt, you know. It looked just like a low-cut thing. One of the buttons was buttoned," Maruskin said in an interview with WOSU. "I got stopped. This lifeguard or staff worker or something came up from the bag check area, which is like 100 feet away from where we were standing. It was pretty far. She had to walk up a hill and meet us. And she just told me she's like, 'We can't have you with your chest exposed. We need to button up.'"
Maruskin was wearing body tape, which is also called TransTape.
"For those people who don't know, it's like a seven-by-four inch square that holds back my breasts as a chest-binding effect. So I can go out in public and feel like I'm shirtless without actually being exposed. And it's, it literally just, it looks like bandages. Like it's nothing revealing, it's not flashy, it's the color of my skin. And from afar, you can't even tell it's there," Maruskin said.
Maruskin buttoned up the shirt the rest of the way and then bought a swim shirt to swim in. He was there with his mom and siblings.
"I was going in with the intention to be able to swim shirtless like any other guy my age. And I was pretty bummed and a little taken back. It definitely took me a couple extra minutes to get ready to go have fun and get in water," he said.
Maruskin had checked the dress code before going to the water park.
"I wasn't doing anything wrong. And I'm not mad at the park. I'm not mad at the lady who came up to me and told me that. I'm mad at the rules more than anything, because they don't write out what you're allowed to wear," he said.
The policy states what's not allowed is "clothing that may expose excessive portions of skin that may be seen as inappropriate in a family environment and exposed genitals and bare breasts."
Maruskin said he felt he was dressed appropriately.
"I was there with my family to have fun with them and to go on slides because that's what everyone else is there for. My choice of going to this park was no different than any other family who was going there," he said. "And had things been different, I would have loved to have fun like any other person there was, but I couldn't. I didn't have fun. I actually hated being there, but chose not to leave. A, because I didn't have a car, but also because I wanted to be there for my family and still have fun with them and stuff."
Maruskin posted about his experience on Reddit, to warn others of what it could be like for them, showing up wearing something they think is appropriate for a water park, to then be singled out and told typical swimwear is inappropriate on your body.
"From what I saw on that Reddit thread, it looked like there were a lot of other people, you know, not just trans people that had experienced discrimination based off of what they were or weren't wearing to the water park," Adkison said. "How bizarre it is to have employees need to scrutinize the bodies of others. There were a number of posts in that thread of them scrutinizing what children were wearing too."
While Maruskin has enjoyed swimming in private pools with friends, this was his first time venturing out to a public pool in a few years.
The last time he did was in 2022 at a community pool in Upper Arlington.
There, Maruskin was also told his swimwear was inappropriate.
"I just went into the corner and I got my stuff and I left, because I was not mentally or emotionally prepared for any of that sort of interaction," he said.
After talking with his mom, they decided to take their case to the Upper Arlington City Council.
"We felt it was fully discriminatory, and half the people there were wearing smaller bikinis and tighter shorts than I was, so at the end of the day, there was nothing that I was exposing that anybody else wasn't. And I would have been less covered had I wore like a swimsuit top," Maruskin said.
The effort paid off.
"We ended up getting the rules changed, so it's pretty well written out," he said.
The policy now states, "appropriate swimwear covers the buttocks, genitals, pubic region, and breasts of those who have them. Coverage of the breast is defined as covering the bottom of the breast to the top of the areola. Body Tape - if applied appropriately - is an acceptable form of coverage."
Maruskin said trans people are already singled out and stared at in public.
"It's tough. It just makes like the hair on your back or the hair on the back of your neck stand up, you know, it gives you goosebumps. It makes you uncomfortable," he said.
He said he's advocating for clarity to save others from embarrassment and potential harassment.
"I was not changing the rules for my own state of well-being. I was changing the rules for the people in the future who could be in the same situation as me so they don't have to," Maruskin said.
