A woman who was banned from a Planet Fitness gym after she photographed a transgender customer shaving in the women’s locker room was later told that the gym assigned a staff member to escort the person in a women’s-only area. She claimed that she was instructing other women to leave their seats. Post learned.
Patricia Silva, whose membership was revoked hours after she posted a photo of an unidentified gym goer on Facebook on March 11, told the Post on Thursday that Planet Fitness “doesn’t use women’s locker rooms. We have assigned an employee to accompany them when they do so.”
“The other day, another friend of mine went to the gym and he was shaving his face again,” Silva told the Post. “He is dressed as a man. His hair is cut short. He is dressed, his face shaved, and appears to be preparing to leave for the day.
“He has an employee who helps him in the bathroom,” Silva continued. “My friend told the Planet Fitness representative he was with that he needed to resign.”
“This woman told my friend that she could go into the stall if she was uncomfortable,” Silva said.
A friend of Ms. Silva’s, who requested anonymity, declined to be interviewed by The Post.
In an interview with the Post, Silva said the Planet Fitness member she photographed claimed to be “transitioning.”
“He didn’t do anything physically threatening,” Silva told the Post. “But there was this guy in the middle of the locker room with a lot of shaving cream on his face.”
Silva sparked a firestorm last week after posting three videos in which he confronted unidentified gym-goers and detailed the incident and his ban from the gym. The video went viral and is blamed for causing Planet Fitness’ value to plummet by more than $400 million amid calls for a boycott of the popular chain.
“I said, ‘Hey,’ and asked him to leave,” Silva said of their encounter. “He said, ‘I’m an LGB queer person in transition,’ and I said, ‘Then you don’t have the right to be in the women’s locker room.'”
Reiterating details from his own video, Silva said the girl was seen wrapped in a towel and appeared worried and “frightened” by the clean-shaven intruder.
However, it was Silva who was looking for a new gym after being suspended by Planet Fitness for violating a policy that prohibited photos of other members in the locker room.
“As the home of the Judgment Free Zone, Planet Fitness is committed to creating an inclusive environment,” a parent company spokesperson said in a statement.
“Our gender identity non-discrimination policy provides that members and guests have access to gym facilities that best match their truthfully self-declared gender identity. Your membership has been suspended for violating our mobile device policy, which prohibits personal photography.”
Backlash against the company and the Fairbanks gym quickly followed.
The company’s stock traded at a monthly high of $66.92 on March 7, but plummeted to a low of $56.46 on Tuesday after word of the incident broke. It rose again on Thursday to close at $58.86.
Many people canceled their memberships or decided to stay away from the Fairbanks store.
“My husband and I were preparing to participate,” one local resident wrote on the gym’s Facebook account. “I think I’ll get involved in the community center.”
Another person wrote: “I canceled my membership this morning.” He added 34 heart emojis to the post.
Silva said she wants to take the issue to the state Legislature and City Council, and is advocating for a “bathroom bill” that would require people to use the bathroom that corresponds to the gender they were assigned at birth.
Eleven states, including Florida, Alabama, and Utah, regulate bathroom access for transgender people.
She said she also approached Fairbanks police about the incident, but was told to “back off.”
In 2021, Ms. Silva ran for State Representative in Fairbanks and served as the campaign coordinator for Republican Dan Sullivan, the state’s junior senator.
But Mr. Silva is unlikely to receive support from Fairbanks Mayor David Prouse.
“I try to keep the government out of private business,” he told the Post. “If others want to boycott [Planet Fitness] Good for them, but the city isn’t going to get into this issue. ”
