Planet Fitness revokes woman's membership after transgender complaint

[Zymologist]

The problem remains though. All it will take is one good liar to utterly destroy a life. Sure, there are men out there who sincerely believe they are female, but in the time it takes for that man to enter the facility, enter the locker room, and identify himself to the women in the locker room when they ultimately notice, a man who is a convincing liar will have sufficient time to fulfill whatever nefarious purposes he has in mind. It's simply too big of a risk for Planet Fitness to force women to assume, and too easily regulated so as to be safer for the larger majority. Someone has to be inconvenienced in this situation, so why not make safety the higher determining factor than "non-judgmentalism"?

Or, if someone has to be inconvenienced, why not make it the tiny minority, rather than a potentially huge percentage of half of the customers?

[Darth Executor]

In America, acceptance of gays occurred only after the creation of martyrs.

Creation is more accurate than you think.

[seer]

Creation is more accurate than you think.

Like the myth of the Matthew Shepard murder.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-Matt-...&tag=thdi09-20

[Paprika]

Earlier in this thread, there was a link to an article that posted a picture of the trans woman involved in this incident. I'm curious how posters here would feel about a picture of the complainant posted just as prominently. In particular, I'm interested in knowing if they'd see this as targeting the woman for retribution, and whether, in that light, they can recognize the equivalent threat posed to the trans woman — in response to her hanging up a bag in a locker room.

Try to be less transparent when constructing victims; it's more convincing that way.

[LeaC]

I'm mainly reading the thread at present. I'm interested to know also if there are any women here who are ok with sharing locker facilities with a transgender woman. I know many such women exist; but I suspect it's less common for people who identify as Christian to be that relaxed about transgender.

BTW; just to tackle another strawman. No I am NOT in favour of "silencing" anyone. That's just silly; no-one was is being silenced here. One individual had a membership cancelled -- which is not the same thing at all. It was canceled because she declined to abide by the "No Judgement Zone" policy which has always been a huge part of PlanetFitness branding. She can continue to speak and has done so. She's being heard all over the world; not silenced at all. But PlanetFitness has chosen to maintain their policy of a No Judgement Zone at the gym, which is their prerogative, I think, for the boundaries they have established.

The suggestion has been made that we should be tolerant of places that choose to exclude transgender individuals from the facilities matching their normally identified gender. OK... now does anyone (else) think we should be tolerant of places that chose to accept transgender individuals according to their normally identified gender? You don't have to attend such a gym yourself, if you choose, of course.

Cheers -- sylas

I would not be ok with it, though I don't believe it has anything to do with my Christianity: it is a question of safety and privacy. I have attempted to understand this issue through theology as well, but the most obvious objection comes from biology: There are differences between men and women. Those differences result in segregation of private facilities.

I wouldn't say this woman has been silenced either, though the media reports have been heavily skewed in favor of the transgender individual, who has been described by others, even within the LGBT community, as a "fetishistic cross-dresser." No mention of that in most media publications. The fact that someone CAN speak is useless when their words are only heard in one particular context.

As far as tolerance, in part I agree with you that this is a business decision and businesses have the right to decide policies themselves. If this was a government organization, I'd have more of an issue with it as a matter of public policy. The problem is, I'm unconvinced that, say, the right to wedding cake is a serious civil rights violation. The right to safety and privacy certainly should be- and that may be grounds to say that this is more than just a business decision. In any case, Planet Fitness may not have broken any laws and is allowed to do as they please with membership, but I hope this story convinces a good portion of their customer base to cancel their membership and FORCE a change in the policy. We should not accept a tyranny of the minority.

[Darth Executor]

[Darth Executor]

Try to be less transparent when constructing victims; it's more convincing that way.

As far as I can tell the individual in question outed itself.

[hamster]

There are whole communities of people online who think they are animals, they're called Otherkin, and they consider themselves part of the 'Trans' community. Wish I were kidding

[JonathanL]

There are whole communities of people online who think they are animals, they're called Otherkin, and they consider themselves part of the 'Trans' community. Wish I were kidding

And we know that you're a real hamster and not a member of the Otherkin community because we have photographic proof. It's right there in your avatar.

[Sparko]

There are whole communities of people online who think they are animals, they're called Otherkin, and they consider themselves part of the 'Trans' community. Wish I were kidding

...Says a guy named Hamster.

[Sparko]

And we know that hamster is a real hamster and not a member of the Otherkin community because we have photographic proof. Just look at his avatar.

He had the operation.

[JonathanL]

...Says a guy named Hamster.

How do you explain the fact that he has a photograph of himself as his avatar?


Huh?

[JonathanL]

He had the operation.

When are you going to have the operation to become a real pirate?

[Sparko]

When are you going to have the operation to become a real pirate?

Why do you think I only have one eye, a hook, and a peg leg?

[JonathanL]

Why do you think I only have one eye, a hook, and a peg leg?

That's just cosmetics, it doesn't make you into the real deal.