Michigan state Rep. Gary Glenn
After a Planet Fitness health club in Midland. Mich., canceled a woman’s membership when she refused to stop harassing and complaining about a transgender woman who was also a club member and who used the women’s locker room there, Michigan state Rep. Gary Glenn has Planet Fitness nondiscrimination policy protecting its transgender members an “in-your-face policy” that threatens the safety of its female customers. Glenn is also president of the American Family Association of Michigan.
While no legislation has been proposed, the legislator threatened the chain with loss of customers looking for a “family-friendly” environment. He called the policy “anti-woman, anti-reality” and said it threatened women’s safety.
Of course, he couldn’t come up with a single example of how trans people have threatened the safety of women in bathrooms or locker rooms anywhere or ever.
Michigan does not protect citizens based on sexual orientation or gender identity, although 35 cities in the state do have some local protections.
Planet Fitness is a health club chain with a fully inclusive nondiscrimination policy.
A woman complained to local management in Midland, Mich. about a trans woman using the woman’s locker room. She was told that person identifies as female.
When she refused to abide by the company’s “no judgement” policy as explained to her at the local level and she took her complaints to the corporate office, her membership was revoked, according to MLive.
The Midland Planet Fitness has private changing changing stalls in the women’s locker room, so the woman complaining was basing her complaint on her perception of the woman’s gender identity, not on any actual body parts she may have seen.
Planet Fitness stood firmly behind its trans-inclusive position.
“Planet Fitness is committed to creating a non-intimidating, welcoming environment for our members. Our gender identity non-discrimination policy states that members and guests may use all gym facilities based on their sincere self-reported gender identity,” a company spokesperson said.
Planet Fitness has 17 clubs in the DFW area.
