To the Editor:

The Sept. 13 issue carried a letter from one Roxanne Koczaja [“Misogyny rules at the Guilderland YMCA] regarding the situation at the Guilderland YMCA.

For starts — I have been a member of the YMCA for nine years. I am there at least five times a week, sometimes six or seven. In all those years, I have never seen Fox News on any TV there, including the exercise room, which has multiple TV sets.

With the exception of one that featured CNN and one featuring only local news, the TVs are tuned to various sports or travel shows. Frankly, I was pleased recently to read that CNN will no longer be on the one TV [The Altamont Enterprise, Sept. 6, 2018, “TVs at the YMCA no longer play CNN].

With all the incredibly divisive political stuff — one might say “garbage” — on television these days, it is refreshing to find a venue that is apolitical, something I think everyone can use.

All of the YMCA members I have seen in the exercise room, running track, etc., have always been courteous to others — and the scene Ms. Koczaja describes is frankly unbelievable. For one thing, women frequently outnumber the men there, especially on weekdays, and I could readily believe that if any male ever spoke like that to a woman he would immediately be confronted by a number of those working out — men and women.

But what is worse is her assertion that the YMCA is “misogynistic” and a place where “Boys will be boys’ is the rule. Whether in the exercise area, the jacuzzi, the pool, or any other place where the sexes meet there has always been an atmosphere of friendliness and mutual respect.

The YMCA is an enormously welcoming and diverse place, just as Ms. Erin Breslin (director of marketing and membership for the Y) has asserted. There are men, women, and children of many different ethnic backgrounds and at any time of day they can can be seen interacting and enjoying the hospitality and the opportunities for exercise and association that the Y affords.

The staff there have all always been friendly and helpful regardless of a member’s age or situation.

Never in nine years have I seen any situation remotely as grotesque as the ones Ms. Koczaja describes. I think the staff and members of the Guilderland YMCA should be very glad she has resigned her membership.

Michael Nardacci

Albany

Editor’s note: Michael Nardacci writes a geology column for The Enterprise.