Local authorities in Bern, the administrative capital of Switzerland, have apologized after a man who identifies as a woman was removed by police from a women-only nudist area at the city’s Marzilibad public open-air pool, acknowledging that pool staff had ‘wrongly ordered’ him to leave despite his ‘meeting the municipality’s access rules’.
According to local media reports, the incident occurred on Sunday, 28 June, in the ‘Paradiesli’, a physically separated section of the pool beside the River Aare where women may sunbathe nude.
Several female bathers complained because they did not perceive the transgender person as female, while other visitors defended his right to remain. Staff and members of the private security company Taktvoll attempted to calm the dispute before management called Bern cantonal police.
In a statement issued the following day, the city said the ‘increasingly hostile atmosphere’ had led staff to make a ‘wrong assessment’. ‘The Directorate for Education, Social Affairs and Sport expressly regrets this decision and apologizes to the person concerned,’ it said.
Bern’s policy allows anyone who identifies and lives as a woman to enter the Paradiesli. An internal guide adds that, in disputed cases, the sex recorded on an official identity document is decisive. The city said the individual met that requirement and announced ‘clearer public rules’ and ‘additional staff training’.
The case has nevertheless intensified one of the most contentious debates in the modern Western world: whether trans women should have access to women-only spaces and sports—or, put differently, whether women-only spaces retain any practical meaning when access is determined by gender identity rather than biological sex.
An eyewitness identified as Anna, who has regularly used the Paradiesli for 15 years, said the individual appeared ‘very masculine’ and that his presence caused unease, although she did not believe he intended to provoke women or stare at them.
‘We are tolerant. We support safe spaces for trans people,’ she told Watson.ch. However, having previously experienced sexual assault, she said seeing a person with a penis could be triggering. ‘We felt a diffuse discomfort,’ she added, explaining that she and a friend left before police arrived.
Another young woman interviewed by Blick was more direct: ‘In a women’s nudist area, I do not want to see penises.’ Many argue that such objections cannot simply be dismissed as prejudice when the Paradiesli exists precisely to allow women to undress away from male bodies and male attention.
The police conduct during the removal of the individual also came under scrutiny, as some eyewitnesses accused officers of discrimination and using excessive and unnecessary force. A flatmate of the individual said around 25 people placed themselves between him and the officers. ‘They brutally pushed the naked people aside,’ she claimed, adding that police forced him to the ground, restrained him, and allowed him only briefly to dress before taking him away in handcuffs.
‘The individual repeatedly refused pool staff’s order to leave, would not cooperate with an identity check, and then “actively and vehemently” resisted police measures’
People close to him said six officers used ‘rough physical force’, that he was held for roughly two hours, and that he later spent the night in hospital with large bruises and scratches. They described the conduct as ‘disproportionate’ and said legal action was being considered.
Police gave a different account. They said the individual repeatedly refused pool staff’s order to leave, would not cooperate with an identity check, and then ‘actively and vehemently’ resisted police measures. Several supporters obstructed the operation, according to officers, while an unidentified person assaulted and lightly injured a policewoman.
After his release, around 50 supporters marched through central Bern in an unauthorized but peaceful demonstration in support of transgender people.
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