Things are not going great for gym company Planet Fitness, which saw its stock price plummet by about 15 percent in the space of just two weeks. That crash came after a Planet Fitness location in Alaska canceled a woman’s membership in the gym when she reportedly photographed a “man…in a women’s bathroom” and complained about the matter online.
On March 7, before the incident led to an online, anti-Planet Fitness furor, the company’s stock stood at $66.92. Then, after about two weeks of pain following the online furor, its stock had crashed to a bottom of $56.46 on March 19. It has risen slightly to just under $58 as of the time this article was written, recovering a small portion of that price plummet. The total market cap loss was about $400 million.
The furor was sparked by an Alaska woman named Patricia Silva and her Planet Fitness location’s response to her. Silva took to Facebook to complain about the situation, posting a video of the incident and saying, “Good day. I just wanted to say I came out of Planet Fitness and there is a man who is shaving in a women’s bathroom.”
Continuing, she made it clear that she isn’t spiteful or hateful, and indeed loves the person “in Christ,” but just isn’t comfortable with that situation. She said, “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 shaving in my bathroom. All right, just thought I’d say it out loud.”
Writing about the matter on Facebook, she added, “I went to planet fitness… Walked in the bathroom, and there stands a MAN shaving… I looked at him, said ‘hey’ … he looked up… and I said, ‘You are a man shaving in the women’s bathroom, and I am not OK with that.’ He replied… ‘Well, I’m LGB…’ ‘Whatever that is… nevertheless, I told him ‘You’re a MAN and you’re invading my space!’ He wanted to argue to justify why he can be there… I walked away… I stepped out of the locker room and loudly asked the front desk, ‘Are you aware that there is a MAN shaving in the women’s bathroom… I’m not OK with that ⁉️’ The two men standing at the desk, put their heads down, and their tails between their legs! As I was walking out the door…at my back, a woman shouts ‘it’s a girl’… I shouted back ‘it’s a man!‘”
Silva’s membership was terminated by Planet Fitness after she posted the video and her comments on the matter on Facebook. It said, in a statement, “As the home of the Judgement Free Zone, Planet Fitness is committed to creating an inclusive environment.”
The company continued, “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.”
Planet Fitness’ policy provides, “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. 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.”
The company’s handling of the matter led not only to a stock selloff, but also to some gym members canceling their memberships and then taking to social media to discuss why they did so. Watch one man discuss doing so here:
Featured image credit: By Wikideas1 – Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=140766241
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