Nearly 30 Planet Fitness locations have received bomb threats since a customer was banned for raising concerns about a transgender gym-goer shaving in the women’s locker room, according to an investigation.
Police have received reports of such bomb hoaxes in at least 28 gyms in 11 states, from Connecticut through Alaska, according to Media Matters.
Although no bombs were ever found, the threats have forced dozens of businesses to evacuate.
The first Planet Fitness location known to be targeted was the one in Fairbanks, Alaska, where Patricia Silva, 67, was suspended for taking a photo of someone shaving in the women’s locker room.
Silva also shared her horror in a video posted on March 13, saying she raised the alarm because she felt unsafe at seeing a transgender person “with a penis” near a girl who “could have been 12 years old . . . in a towel kind of freaked out that there’s a man shaving in her locker room.”
The gym franchise said in the aftermath that its policy allows members to use the facilities that “best align with their sincere, self-reported gender identity” — and claimed that Silva violated its policy of taking photos of individuals in the locker rooms, resulting in her suspension.
