Is It Time to Give Planet Fitness the Bud Light Treatment?

In Fairbanks, Alaska, a woman had her Planet Fitness membership revoked following an incident where she photographed a "man with a penis" shaving in one of the gym's women's locker rooms.

"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 told 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." 

When asked if the transgender individual's "sincere, self-reported" gender was female, Planet Fitness did not respond.

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 on Wednesday, Silva said there was 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."

Silva said the individual identified as "queer LGB," thus believing "he had a right to be there." 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 "felt that I was in an unsafe space." 

The company's policy does empower members to question the legitimacy of an individual's "gender identity."

"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," the policy states. "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."

But, according to Silva, the man has been allowed to remain a member of the gym.

"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," she said.

Despite the policy that suggests that concerns about the legitimacy of a person's gender identity can be raised and questioned, this incident gives me no confidence that they would ever side against anyone who asserts a "gender identity" different from their biological sex. In 2021, a Los Angeles spa made headlines after a man walked into a women’s changing area, exposing himself to the women and young girls inside. The spa supported the man's right to do so, and yet it turned out he was a serial sex offender.

From where I sit, there's only one solution here. Planet Fitness is enabling men to have access to private women's spaces. Planet Fitness deserves the Bud Light treatment. Are you a member of this club? If you are, cancel your membership. Any gym that doesn't protect the privacy and safety of women and young girls doesn't deserve your business.