Planet Fitness has landed itself in hot water over the last decade due to a so-called "inclusive" policy that allows a person to use the restroom and locker room corresponding to the gender with which they say they identify.

On the Planet Fitness website, their policy states that "we celebrate and champion diversity and provide an environment where everyone feels accepted, respected and like they belong." 

"Members and team members will be treated according to their self-reported gender identity," they also say.

READ (VIP): Planet Fitness Facing Bud Light Treatment After Banning Member Over Confrontation With Transgender Woman

At the Planet Fitness on South New Hope Rd. in Gastonia, NC, however, one supposed "member" has been arrested after female gym goers called 911 on a man who they said was completely naked in the women's bathroom, and who allegedly asked a woman to lotion up with him and take a shower. The man claimed to be a transgender woman:

“And what’s he wearing?” the dispatcher said.

“Nothing, literally nothing,” the caller said.

“OK, so he is completely naked?” the dispatcher said.

“He is completely naked,” the caller said.

Sources told Channel 9 that Miller asked a woman to rub lotion and shower together.

“And is that man still there?” the dispatcher said.

“Yeah, he is still in the bathroom,” the caller said. “It’s a man but he says he identifies as a woman, and he won’t leave the restroom. But he is just walking around showing us his --- and he won’t leave.”

The suspect, who WSOC-TV Channel 9 also reported had allegedly been harassing women in the gym prior to the police showing up, has been identified as 38-year-old Christopher Miller. Here's what he looks like:

“He is completely naked.”
Women were stunned to see Christopher Miller in the ladies locker room of the @PlanetFitness on South New Hope Road in Gastonia. Sources say Miller tried to get a woman to put oil on Miller’s body and get in the shower with Miller. Details on @wsoctv pic.twitter.com/5xHRAUITO5

— Ken (@kenlemonWSOC9) April 10, 2024

As of this writing, the Charlotte-based news outlet has been unable to confirm any prior history of Miller claiming transgender status, and that's where this story gets especially interesting.

Planet Fitness has a policy for incidents where there is a dispute over the validity of someone saying they identify as another gender. Here's how it reads:

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.

But as critics of policies like those at Target and Planet Fitness have noted before, an employee questioning a customer's transgender creds is a surefire way to a lawsuit.

Consider what the LGTBQ group Lambda Legal has to say about questioning someone based on how they look:

What if someone doesn't look masculine or feminine enough to use a particular restroom?

There is no rule that a person must look a certain way to use a certain restroom. This kind of “gender policing” is harmful to everyone, whether a transgender person, a butch woman, an effeminate man or anyone dressed or groomed in a way that doesn’t conform to someone else’s gender standards. Moreover, courts have increasingly found that discrimination against transgender people is sex discrimination.

They also say that it should not be a requirement that a person identifying as transgender must use certain bathrooms because others are uncomfortable:

Transgender people should not be singled out as the only people using any particular restroom. But providing individual and/or unisex restrooms is not a bad idea, because they do provide more options for TGNC people, as well as for people with young children and people with disabilities who need help from someone of a different gender.

Furthermore, these far-left groups also advocate that companies train their employees to NOT question anyone on their gender before they enter the dressing room, restroom, or locker room, because they believe it is personal, offensive, and could cause great distress to a transgender person.  

Plus, in some cities and states, it is illegal.

Take, for instance, what the ACLU has said about the access to gender-segregated spaces issue:

Some jurisdictions (e.g., Iowa, San Francisco, and D.C.) go farther and make clear that transgender people can’t be required to prove their gender to gain access to a public restroom, unless everyone has to show ID to use that restroom

[...]

While [unisex facilities are] often a useful step towards addressing the concerns of transgender people and others, the ACLU believes that transgender people should have the right to use restrooms that match their gender identity rather than being restricted to only using gender-neutral ones.

What this means is that anyone who intends to harm women or children could enter these facilities without being questioned, and by the time it is discovered they’re not supposed to be there, it’s too late.

In other words, the Planet Fitness policy in place to resolve disputes over someone's transgender status is a non-starter. There is no card, unofficial or otherwise, that says someone is transgender. There is no way to "prove" it. All they have to do is declare they are and that is supposed to be sufficient.

And that, in a nutshell, is why "inclusive" policies about gender-segregated facilities are so dangerous for women.

Flashback: Repeat 'Peeping Tom' Offender in TN is Targeting Stores That Have "Inclusive" Bathroom Policies