Lawsuit: Planet Fitness Should Discriminate Against Transgendered Woman

Here’s a whiplash-worthy twist on civil rights litigation:

A Michigan woman thinks her gym, Planet Fitness, should discriminate more, not less.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Yvette Cormier is seeking more than $25,000 in damages from the Planet Fitness gym in Midland after her membership was canceled after raising a fuss about having to share locker rooms and restrooms with a trans woman.

Cormier’s lawsuit, filed Monday in Midland County Circuit Court, accuses Planet Fitness of invasion of privacy, sexual harassment and breach of contract, among a litany of other charges.

The Kallman Legal Group in Lansing, which filed the suit on Cormier’s behalf, said in a news release the inclusion policy at Planet Fitness creates a “hostile and offensive environment for women and children.”

“Ms. Cormier was wrongfully denied the benefits of her contract with Planet Fitness and wrongfully denied the use of the public accommodations at defendant’s gym because she objected to Defendant’s unknown policy,” the press release states. “The policy allows men who self-identify as women to use the women’s facilities, including the women’s locker room and showers.”

Gym: Not the Complaint, But the Manner of Complaining

Cormier, 48, complained to the management of the gym earlier this month that she had seen someone “dressed like a man” in her locker room. The individual was wearing a wig and “a little bit of blush,” Cormier told ABC News, but was “huge” and “very manly.”

Cormier complained to the local manager, who reportedly said the gym’s policy leaves it to transgendered individuals to use the facilities of the gender with which they self-identify. If she was uncomfortable, Cormier was reportedly told, she could wait until the woman had finished using the facilities.

Rebuffed, Cormier reportedly talked with other members of the gym and claimed they were as put off by the policy as she was.

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When she took her complaint to the corporate level, her two-month-old membership was revoked.

“They said, ‘You are talking to people about him in the women’s locker room. You are making people upset.’ That’s my whole point,” Cormier told ABC News. “I’m telling them and warning them because you are not doing that. You allow men in there, and we are appalled by it.”

In a statement, Planet Fitness Director of Public Relations McCall Gosselin said the gym 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.”

Cormier’s membership wasn’t canceled because she complained, but because of the manner in which she complained, Gosselin said, explaining Cormier “exhibited behavior that management at the Midland club deemed inappropriate and disruptive to other members, which is a violation of the membership agreement.”

Groups like the anti-LGBT American Family Association have entered the fray, saying the gym is “making the needs of its female members subservient to the sexual identification of transgender individuals.”

Lawyers Champions of Religious Freedom

Cormier’s lawyers – the father-and-son team of David and Stephen Kallman – said her lawsuit could have important consequences in Michigan, where lawmakers have been asked to expand the Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act to include protections for LGBT individuals.

Lawmakers are also considering the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which would allow the medical and business communities to refuse services based on moral or conscientious grounds. The legislation has been approved by both the House and Senate, whose version was sent back to the House for reconsideration.

Nineteen states have similar laws on the books.

The Kallmans have long been champions of religious freedom exemptions.

In a 2013 legal memo challenging proposed LGBT nondiscrimination protections in Delta Township, the lawyers said gender identity is “internal to a person” and a person accused of discrimination would have to be a “mind-reader” not to discriminate.

The memo compared homosexuality to extramarital sex, polygamy, pedophilia, serial killer rapists, necrophilia, bestiality and incest.

Both lawyers represent the Great Lakes Justice Center, which has a history of defending religious liberty on LGBT issues and claims such laws promote “civil acceptance of homosexual conduct through the force of law.”

Cormier told CNN she’s not anti-LGBT.

“If you have male parts you don’t need to be in the women’s locker room,” she said. “I don’t care what you are; I don’t care if you’re gay lesbian, transgender or transvestite. I am uncomfortable with you as a male in my locker room, in my restroom.”

Tell Us:

• Who’s right in this case, Planet Fitness or the plaintiff?