‘Canceling my membership’: Planet Fitness stock value plummets $400M after turmoil over transgender member

ALASKA, UNITED STATES: The Planet Fitness chain saw the valuation of the company’s stock drop this week followed by an incident that involved a turmoil over a transgender. An Alaska gym canceled a woman’s membership when she photographed a transgender male using the women’s locker room, per The New York Post . 

The company’s stock price, which traded at a monthly high of $66.92 on March 7, plummeted to a low of $56.46 on Tuesday, March 19. 

What happened at Planet Fitness? 

The price drop of famous fitness franchise's stock followed an incident in which Patricia Silva encountered a “man in women’s locker room shaving." 

Additionally, she also claimed in a video posted to Facebook that there was “a little girl sitting in the corner. She could have been [12 years old] in a towel kind of freaked out.” In the video she said, “I was offended, I took a picture of him." 

Silva added that the man had been shaving his face and told her he was “queer.”

Silva said that her membership was cancelled for breaking the gym's policy prohibiting taking pictures of other patrons after she brought her concerns to the attention of the administration. Members are permitted to use the locker area that most closely matches their gender identify according to gym rules.

“Our gender identity non-discrimination policy states that members and guests may use the facilities that best align with the sincere, self-reported gender identity,” the gym said in a statement.

The guideline does not, however, imply that anyone can enter any locker room by claiming a gender that they do not identify with.

"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 said.

Yvette Cormier, a Michigan woman, filed a lawsuit against Planet Fitness in 2015, claiming that her membership had been canceled unfairly after she had voiced concerns about a transgender lady. Eventually, a judge in Michigan found against Cormier.

Internet reacts to controversy 

Several social media users opined on the Planet Fitness controversy. A user wrote on Yahoo, "I cancelled my membership, but the gym had been going downhill for a while, not being cleaned, broken equipment, etc. so I'm guessing I would have done so anyway." 

Another user wrote, "I am cancelling my membership." A user wrote, "I was thinking about signing up for Planet Fitness. Hard pass if they have this policy. And I'm a dude." 

A user said, "I've been boycotting all gym's since I was 35. It turns out that there's other funner things to do than workout." 

The next user wrote, "It's simply voting with your dollars to avoid companies with offensive policies." The next user said, "if you invest in companies run by CEO's who are willing to jeopardize an entire company, in exchange for this community, you deserve to lose it all, along with that CEO." 

Another user said, "It appears that their "inclusive" policy is excluding customers.They may as well name Dylan Mulvany their spokesperson."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.