Planet Fitness’ stock price was hit with a dramatic drop this week after they revoked a woman’s membership for taking a photo of ‘a man shaving in the women’s locker room’.
The company’s valuation sunk from $5.3 billion to $4.9 billion after Patricia Silva posted videos of herself to Facebook where she claims a man ‘identifying as “queer LGB”’ was shaving his face in the women’s locker room. She also claims there was a young girl in the room, saying ‘she could have been 12 years old, in a towel kind of freaked out’.
What actually happened?
Silva says she complained to management at the branch in Fairbanks, Alaska, who revoked her membership for violating the gym’s policy against photographing other gym-goers after Silva took a photo of the person as she ‘felt unsafe’.
The company’s policy for their gyms states members are allowed to use the locker room that aligns with their gender identity.
They reiterated this in a statement to Fox Digital News, where they added the following.
‘However, this is not a blanket invitation for people to enter the locker room of their choosing by asserting a gender that is not their room. 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.’
Planet Fitness in a statement to Fox Digital News
Calls for a boycott
People on the right-wing side of X are now cancelling their Planet Fitness memberships and calling for a boycott of the company, claiming they should get the ‘Bud Light’ treatment, referring to the backlash Bud Light received after launching a campaign with popular trans creator Dylan Mulvaney in August 2023.
Larger trans debate
The transgender-friendly policy of Planet Fitness is part of a larger ongoing political debate over transgender rights and legislation that started in 2016 when North Carolina introduced a ‘bathroom bill’ that specifically banned transgender people from using public bathrooms that aligned with their gender identity.
This sparked a nationwide backlash that included several celebrities such as Bruce Springsteen cancelling shows due to take place in the state. Other conservative states also proposed similar legislation inspired by North Carolina.
The Obama administration condemned the North Carolina bill and tried to block it with a directive that stated any federally funded schools should allow transgender students to use the bathroom they identified with, but this was dismissed by several judges. The directive was then reversed altogether once Trump took office.
Current stance on trans people in America
Other laws that limit transgender people have been passed in states such as Florida, in one of the biggest crackdowns on transgender rights. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill that could remove a child from home if they receive gender-affirming treatments, likening it to child abuse. The law also declares that schools are restricted from using pronouns not listed on a student’s birth certificate and from teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity before the eighth grade.
‘Bathroom bills’ now appear to be making a resurgence in 2024, with several states resurrecting the 2016 legislation and proposing expansions to it in states such as Utah and Arizona. One bill is going as far as suggesting it become a crime for a transgender person to enter a bathroom that does not match the sex listed on their birth certificate.
