It is getting strange out there. A Michigan woman hoping to using her local Planet Fitness gym locker room when she realized there was something not right in the women’s locker room.
The controversy centers around an incident that happened in late February when Yvette Cormier complained over what she saw in the gym’s Midland, Michigan location.
“I was stunned and shocked,” she told WNEM-TV. “He looked like a man. He did not look like a woman.”
“I was blocked, because a man was standing there,” Cormier said. “It freaked me out because, why is a man in here?”
Like most women who find a man in the women’s locker room Yvette Cormier registered a complaint at the front desk. Cormier said the employee at the front desk told her that the individual identifies as a woman, which apparently means the man won’t be asked to leave the locker room.
Thinking the answer was no grounded in reality, Cormier took her concerns to the corporate offices of Planet Fitness, now known as part of the bizzarro universe, where she was told that Planet Fitness was a “no judgement” zone and the man would not be asked to leave.
Of course this did not make any sense to Yvette Cormier because Planet Fitness was making a judgement just not a good one. A statement released by McCall Gosselin, public relations director for Planet Fitness, states that members can use the locker room corresponding with their personal gender identity.
Yvette Cormier was shocked by this judgement by the no judgement folks at Planet Fitness and started telling her friends at the gym about the bizarre chain of events. She strongly disagrees with the policy and feels it’s a safety issue.
Cormier said she then got a call from Planet Fitness’ corporate office telling her that she was violating their “no judgement” policy because her judgement was not the correct judgement in the eyes of the strange people at Planet Fitness.
They ask that she discontinue her blatant judgement that men should not join women in the locker room and discuss it with others. Shockingly, she declined to cease and desist so Planet Fitness revoked her membership.
“I feel like it’s kind of one-sided,” she told Michigan Live. “I feel like I am the one who is being punished.”
The incident has since ignited debate in Midland, with some women sympathetic toward Cormier and others siding with the gym.
Here is the full “no judgement” statement from Planet Fitness:
“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.”
The recap; Yvette Cormier felt intimidated and unwelcome when she encountered a big burly man changing his clothes in the women’s locker room. When she complained that there was man in the woman’s locker room she was asked not to judge the man leering at her and accept that he self identified as a woman even while his man equipment was exposed to the women.
Due to the poor judgement of the “no judgement” people at Planet Fitness in creating an intimidating, unwelcoming environment for the actual female members of the gym, she grumbled to other women about the hostile environment and was asked to turn in her towel because of the inappropriate and disruptive manner she complained about the inappropriate and disruptive environment created by allowing perverts to have their way at Planet Fitness.
Got it.
