Planet Fitness revoked a woman’s membership after she photographed a trans member “shaving in the women’s bathroom.” Patricia Silvia narrated her ordeal in a video shared on Facebook, where she revealed she felt uncomfortable with the queer individual in the female locker room. The fitness giant released a statement calling its gyms a “judgement-free zone” amid the boycott calls on social media.
The Alaskan woman revealed that she saw a “man with a penis” in the female locker room on Monday. Recalling the incident, Silvia said, “I just came out of Planet Fitness, and there is a man shaving in the women’s bathroom.” She explained that she personally has no problems with the individual identifying as “queer LGB,” per Fox News.
“I realize he wants to be a woman, he gets to be a woman. I love him in Christ, he’s a spiritual being having a human experience. He doesn’t like his gender, so he wants to be a woman. But I’m not comfortable with him shaving in my bathroom,” Silvia continued.
She added that there was also a girl who “could have been 12 years old . . . in a towel, kind of freaked out that there’s a man shaving in her locker room.” Upon asking confronting the individual, Silvia said that the member said “he had a right to be there,” per NY Post.
After the woman’s membership cancellation news went viral on social media, netizens made calls to boycott Planet Fitness. Amid the outrage, the fitness chain’s chief corporate affairs officer, McCall Gosselin, told Fox News, “As the home of the Judgement Free Zone, Planet Fitness is committed to creating an inclusive environment.”
“Our gender identity non-discrimination policy states that members and guests may use the gym facilities that best align with their sincere, self-reported gender identity. The member who posted on social media violated our mobile device policy that prohibits taking photos of individuals in the locker room, which resulted in their membership being terminated,” Gosselin added in the statement.