(HorizonPost.com) – Gym chain Planet Fitness last week saw its stock take a tumble as a boycott was launched in the wake of a viral story about a woman’s membership being canceled after she filmed a man using the women’s locker room in her Alaska gym, the New York Post reported.
The stock price fell from $66.92 on March 7 to $56.46 on March 19. By Monday, March 25, the stock had risen slightly to $58.01.
The chain revoked the membership of Alaska resident Patricia Silva after she complained to management about a so-called transgender using the women’s locker room.
Silva had posted a video on Facebook describing how she found a man in the women’s bathroom shaving at the sink. She cited her Christian faith and said she did not want to use the same bathroom as a man.
In a subsequent video, Silva claimed that a transgender was in the locker room at the same time a girl of about 12 was there. She said the sight so offended her that she took the man’s picture.
After showing the picture to the management, Silva’s membership was revoked for violating the gym’s rules against taking photos of others in the locker rooms.
In a statement to Fox News, McCall Gosselin, the chief corporate affairs officer for Planet Fitness, defended the gym chain’s “inclusive environment” and said that its non-discrimination policy allows members to use the facilities that align with their “sincere, self-reported gender identity.”
Gosselin said Silva’s membership was revoked for violating Planet Fitness’ “mobile device policy” which prohibits members from taking photos of others in the locker rooms.
At the same time, Planet Fitness said its non-discrimination policy was not an open invitation for people to use whatever locker room they wanted simply by claiming to be transgender.
The company said any gym member who acts in “bad faith” and falsely claims to be transgender may be asked to leave and could have their membership terminated.
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