Planet Fitness is facing a backlash from some conservatives after the fitness chain revoked the membership of a woman who took a photo of a naked person in a women's locker room at one of the chain's locations in Fairbanks, Alaska.
The woman, Patricia Silva, narrated the video, saying the person who identified as "queer LBG" was shaving in the female locker room.
Planet Fitness confirmed to Fox News that the woman who shot the video had her membership revoked for violating a policy that prohibits taking photos and/or video in the locker room.
“As the home of the Judgement Free Zone, Planet Fitness is committed to creating an inclusive environment,” Planet Fitness chief corporate affairs officer McCall Gosselin said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “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.”
Patricia Silva said she went to the gym on Monday and saw “a man with a penis” shaving in the women’s locker room.
“I just came out of Planet Fitness, and there is a man shaving in the women’s bathroom,” she said in the first of several videos she posted about the incident.
“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.”
In a video posted last Wednesday, Silva said that there was a girl who could have 12 years old "in a towel kind of freaked out that there's a man shaving in the locker room."
Planet Fitness identified the individual as transgender in an email exchange with Fox News Digital.
Silva said she took a picture of the individual, because she was in "an unsafe space.”
Planet Fitness policy reads: “If a serious concern or significant doubt about the bona fides of a person’s transgender or nonbinary status/identity arises and which the team member can articulate, the team member shall address their concerns with the member. If discussion with the member fails to resolve the serious concern or doubt, the club may ask for external evidence of the member’s asserted gender identity. If it is confirmed that a member is acting in bad faith and improperly asserts a gender identity, they may be asked to leave and their membership may be terminated.”
Silva said she had received a call on Wednesday morning from the gym notifying her that they had canceled her membership.
“Planet Fitness is defending the man in the women’s locker room, the man with a penis, rather than the child in the corner with a towel wrapped around her,” Silva said.
Now, conservatives on social media are calling for a boycott of Planet Fitness. A group identifying itself as Libs of TikTok has started a hashtag called #BoycottPlanetFitness.
