Planet Fitness bans woman who complained about transgender woman in locker room

[LivingWordUnity]

Times-Picayune:

By William LaRue, National Desk
on March 06, 2015

Planet Fitness has canceled a Michigan woman's gym membership after she expressed concerns about a transgender woman using the women's locker room at one of its fitness centers.

Yvette Cormier of Midland County said this week that corporate officials told her she was no longer welcome after she made repeated statements last month about a "man" at the Planet Fitness location in Midland.

"I was stunned and shocked. He looked like a man. ... He did not look like a woman," Cormier told WNEM-TV in Saginaw, Michigan.

According to MLive.com, she also said, "It freaked me out because, why is a man in here?"

After an employee told her Feb. 28 that the individual in question identified as a woman, Cormier took her complaint to Planet Fitness' corporate offices. There she was told the individual, who was not identified, would be allowed in the women's locker room under the club's "no judgement zone" policy, MLive reports.

 

[Maynard Keenan]

 

[StephanieSomer]

Reading further in the article, I read, "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.The manner in which this member expressed her concerns about the policy exhibited behavior that management at the Midland club deemed inappropriate and disruptive to other members, which is a violation of the membership agreement and as a result her membership was cancelled."

So, it appears the woman was tossed out for her OWN disruptive behavior. It strikes me as ironically funny that most of the bias against transsexuals is based on a perceived notion that transsexuals are disruptive. It appears the disruptive behavior here was from the cis-gender individual with a prejudice. In my own experience, as a transsexual, I can affirm that by far the vast majority of disruption is caused by those with prejudice. I know of very few transsexuals with a chip on their shoulder. But, I've seen hundreds, if not thousands, of prejudiced people, with an attitude of pride, upsetting many. Their pride is based on a huge wealth of misinformation and lies perpetrated on the rest of society.

 

[MikeK]

This all seems reasonable, a person made a scene over nothing, repeatedly, and got the boot. Fair enough. If the transgendered individual were causing some trouble in the locker room, that would be an issue. It sounds like the complaining woman in this case was bothered by that individual merely being there. Transgendered and openly homosexual persons have a right to use the locker room at their gyms. No matter where they go, someone is going to have a little tantrum. So long as they are not purposefully leering at or intimidating others, I don't care where they go. I think our hang up on who sees who naked is rather silly, actually, and I suspect it causes more lusting than it avoids.

 

[StephanieSomer]

The locker room in question has separate dressing stalls and restroom facilities. There is no nakedness to be seen. The removed woman simply doesn't like trans people, and she seemed to think she could eliminate having one around with her complaints.

 

[pdudgeon]

i think the point here is that Planet Fitness has decided to have a politically based corporate policy status when it comes to it's members, and it's their right to do so.
their decision to kick a member out probably would have gone down a bit smoother if they had offered to remit the funds for the unused portion of the woman's gym fees at the same time that they showed her the door.

fortunately they aren't the only gym in town, so to speak.

 

[eastcoast_bsc]

If anyone listened to this woman being interviewed, she states the "transgendered" person looked like a man and not far along in the change process.

So according to the to the enlightened ones here, the man could walk around the locker room naked with complete male genitalia.

I mean think about it. Any guy can say he is trans and traipse into the woman's locker room.

 

[ebia]

I mean think about it. Any guy can say he is trans and traipse into the woman's locker room.

Do you seriously think that's happening a lot?

 

[MikeK]

If anyone listened to this woman being interviewed, she states the "transgendered" person looked like a man and not far along in the change process.

So according to the to the enlightened ones here, the man could walk around the locker room naked with complete male genitalia.

I mean think about it. Any guy can say he is trans and traipse into the woman's locker room.

I'm reminded of my friend who married a girl from Finland and his experiences in their remote village Wayne where at any time you would hop in, fully nude of course, and enjoy a sauna with random strangers of any age and any gender. It was not sexual and it is not dangerous.

Anyway, Inhave two questions for you.

1) So what? What is it that we are afraid of happening? Do you think that this transgender thing is a rouse by this man to, what, see women naked? There are a lot easier ways to see women naked. Are you concerned that he will touch or even rape these women? I suspect that a public locker room at a gym (barring the all-night gyms) is safer than a lot of places we routinely go.

2) You asked the audience to think about it. I have, a little bit. What is your [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]uion, what did you come up with?

 

[Wolseley]

I have to admit, watching how people vehemently defend the ever-increasing list of sexual oddities out there, and what it says about the state and future of our culture is like watching one of those huge machines built by Jean Tinguely set in motion and watching it go faster and faster until it self-destructs.

Gonna be one heck of a crash when the whole shebang finally goes. I wonder who'll end up with all those nuclear weapons? Subs, aircraft, etc.?

 

[sylverpiano]

I admit that I am rather shy in the locker room to begin with. My usual gym time is very early mornings. at this time, I usually have the locker room mostly to myself.

This may come off as insensitive, but someone working on a male to female gender transition sharing the locker room with me would be a deal breaker.

 

[StephanieSomer]

If anyone listened to this woman being interviewed, she states the "transgendered" person looked like a man and not far along in the change process.

So according to the to the enlightened ones here, the man could walk around the locker room naked with complete male genitalia.

I mean think about it. Any guy can say he is trans and traipse into the woman's locker room.

People don't traipse around nude in public locker rooms. Especially this one. It has separate dressing stalls. So, your argument isn't even logical.

Besides, your assertion shows a VERY poor understanding of the transsexual. If the transsexual in this issue hasn't yet had surgery, the LAST thing on her mind would be to parade around displaying that fact.

And, if you really read what the fitness center had to say, you'd realize it's nowhere near as simple as a simple statement that, "Hey, I'm trans!" So, no, any guy can NOT just "say" he is trans and traipse into the woman's locker room.

 

[StephanieSomer]

I have to admit, watching how people vehemently defend the ever-increasing list of sexual oddities out there, and what it says about the state and future of our culture is like watching one of those huge machines built by Jean Tinguely set in motion and watching it go faster and faster until it self-destructs.

Gonna be one heck of a crash when the whole shebang finally goes. I wonder who'll end up with all those nuclear weapons? Subs, aircraft, etc.?

Sexual oddities?

 

[Sword of the Lord]

Why is the woman wrong for not wanting an actual, biological male in the locker room looking at her nakedness?

Reminds me of a few months ago when a man pretending to be a woman used an Applebees female bathroom with my 5 year old daughter in there, and then had the nerve to talk to my daughter while she was in the bathroom. I made a scene when I found out and was close to going to jail for battery. They can play their games at home, but when you're out, you're a man with a penis or mutilated penis, and you sure as heck don't talk to another man's daughter in the bathroom.

 

[StephanieSomer]

Why is the woman wrong for not wanting an actual, biological male in the locker room looking at her nakedness?

Reminds me of a few months ago when a man pretending to be a woman used an Applebees female bathroom with my 5 year old daughter in there, and then had the nerve to talk to my daughter while she was in the bathroom. I made a scene when I found out and was close to going to jail for battery. They can play their games at home, but when you're out, you're a man with a penis or mutilated penis, and you sure as heck don't talk to another man's daughter in the bathroom.

How could a transsexual in the locker room see any nakedness with separate lockable dressing stalls?

Your second paragraph doesn't depict anything wrong on the part of the transsexual. Rather, it points to your own violence.

Your characterization of a transsexual "pretending to be a woman" is objectionable and rather illogical. And, your last sentence is just totally lacking in knowledge.

 

[sylverpiano]

Hey there, StephanieSomer!

People don't traipse around nude in public locker rooms. Especially this one. It has separate dressing stalls. So, your argument isn't even logical.

This has not been my experience. I am 39. I have never been in a locker room with private, lockable cubicles. This includes middle and high school, ant swimming pool I have ever used and all of the gyms to which I have belonged over the years.

 

[pdudgeon]

Hey there, StephanieSomer!


This has not been my experience. I am 39. I have never been in a locker room with private, lockable cubicles. This includes middle and high school, ant swimming pool I have ever used and all of the gyms to which I have belonged over the years.

yep. the only place that i've ever seen a private lockable cubical was in the girl's locker room in Jr. high. they had that one for girls who were pregnant.
heck even when i was in boot camp there were no private shower cubicles. the shower cubicles were open, and had multiple shower heads just like any school gym. even the lockers themselves were in double back-to-back rows with a single bench down the middle of the row for putting on nylons and shoes.

nope, no privacy at all.

Those were the days when everyone had the same physical equipment, and our minds were focused on how little time there was to get dressed before the bell rang for the next class.

the rational was 'what's fine for the guys is fine for the girls'.
and back then it was fine.

 

[StephanieSomer]

yep. the only place that i've ever seen a private lockable cubical was in the girl's locker room in Jr. high. they had that one for girls who were pregnant.
heck even when i was in boot camp there were no private shower cubicles. the shower cubicles were open, and had multiple shower heads just like any school gym. even the lockers themselves were in double back-to-back rows with a single bench down the middle of the row for putting on nylons and shoes.

nope, no privacy at all.

Those were the days when everyone had the same physical equipment, and our minds were focused on how little time there was to get dressed before the bell rang for the next class.

the rational was 'what's fine for the guys is fine for the girls'.
and back then it was fine.

I wasn't referring to public school locker rooms. I was referring to public commercially available ones, like the one in the OP article. That one DOES have separate and lockable dressing stalls. It says so in the article.

 

[pdudgeon]

I wasn't referring to public school locker rooms. I was referring to public commercially available ones, like the one in the OP article. That one DOES have separate and lockable dressing stalls. It says so in the article.

you might desire to narrow the focus of your objections, (public vs. private gyms) but the truth of the matter is that it is much more likely that it is the public school gyms rather than private gyms which will be more prevalent across this land. And thus it is actually the various school boards who will be setting the standards for what constitutes an acceptable level of privacy in a gym setting; not the transgender community.

 

[StephanieSomer]

you might desire to narrow the focus of your objections, (public vs. private gyms) but the truth of the matter is that it is much more likely that it is the public school gyms rather than private gyms which will be more prevalent across this land. And thus it is actually the various school boards who will be setting the standards for what constitutes an acceptable level of privacy in a gym setting; not the transgender community.

The distinction of a public commercial dressing room as "private" is mistaken. This is not a private gym. It IS public, regardless whether it is owned and operated by a corporation or the government.

And the repeated references to school locker rooms has no bearing on this case at all. That's a deflection.