Ten Thousand Waves didn't likely get 10,000 complaints about its April Fools efforts this year, but apparently the Japanese-themed spa in Santa Fe got enough pushback to issue a formal apology about its jest on the topic of gender fluidity.
“We sent our annual April Fools newsletter claiming that we would be opening a single large, gender-neutral facility to replace our overcrowded mens’ and womens’ changing rooms. Unfortunately, it was written in a way that was insensitive to the plight of the non-binary. Many readers and Ten Thousand Waves staff pointed out that being born in the wrong body is a deadly serious matter,” reads a statement issued Tuesday. “ If this was hurtful to you or anyone you know, please accept our appologies (sic). Ten Thousand Waves is, and always has been, inclusive rather than exclusive.”
Last year’s April Fool’s email newsletter from the Waves invited diners to feast once a week on chef’s specials fished from the koi pond. And like that one, the “notice” about gender-neutral changing rooms required readers to click on a link before they learned it was a ruse.
“We’ve listened to your requests and before the spring is out plan to inaugurate a new dressing room with more private shower facilities, more toilets and sinks, bigger lockers, and more room to spread out,” the April 1 message reads. “ We’ve also listened to your many requests to provide gender equality and a welcoming place for the gender fluid. Beginning July 1, we’ll replace our existing cramped men’s and women’s locker rooms with a single spacious co-ed changing facility.”
Recent visitors to the Waves find plywood hallways in what seems to be an ever-evolving spa campus. Renovation plans due for completion by summer of 2020 are set to double the size of the dressing rooms for men and women.
Tuesday’s apology comes with the clarification that the spa is adding two private changing rooms “to accommodate the needs of the non-binary, families, and anyone who feels uncomfortable using a communal changing room.”
