Woman says Planet Fitness canceled her membership after she reported man in women’s locker room

A New Hampshire woman says Planet Fitness revoked her membership after she complained about encountering someone she believed was male in the women’s locker room — the latest in a string of disputes over the gym chain’s transgender access policy.

Judy Walcott, a longtime member at a Planet Fitness in Concord, New Hampshire, told Fox News Digital she felt unsafe after encountering someone she believed was male near the shower area of the women’s locker room on April 11. “I was shaking. Like I was actually trembling because it freaked me out that bad,” she said.

Ms. Walcott said she reported the incident to a front desk employee, who told her there was nothing staff could do because it was company policy. She claims the employee declined to check the locker room while she was present.

Four days later, Ms. Walcott said she raised the concern again with another staff member and was called “transphobic” before she could finish explaining what had happened.

“She showed concern until I started telling her that there was a creepy guy in the ladies’ shower on Saturday, nobody checked him out,” Ms. Walcott said. “Then before I could say anything else, she interrupted me, telling me she ’thought’ she knew who I meant and what a wonderful woman that is.”

A couple of hours after that second conversation, she said, the gym’s manager called to inform her that her membership had been canceled for a “policy violation.” When Ms. Walcott asked which policy she had violated, the manager did not provide an answer, she said.

Ms. Walcott said she later discovered a cancellation form in her online account dated April 15 — a document she says she never signed. She alleges her signature was forged. Fox News Digital, which reviewed a copy of the form, noted it could not authenticate the document. The comment field on the form reads “Nondiscrimination Trans.”

After noticing she had been charged for an additional month, Ms. Walcott returned to the gym on April 17 to use the remaining days of her membership. She said the manager again told her the membership was canceled and refused to issue a refund. Police were then called, and officers from the Concord Police Department issued Ms. Walcott a trespass warning, which the department confirmed to Fox News Digital.

“So she takes a form, signs my name, charges me money, extends my membership, and then calls the cops on me,” Ms. Walcott said. “I feel like I live in an upside-down land.”

Ms. Walcott said she had also emailed Planet Fitness headquarters prior to the incident, asking about its transgender policy, but received no response. She has since contacted the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office and plans to file a consumer complaint.

The company’s posted policy states that members who identify as transgender may use locker rooms, bathrooms and showers based on their self-reported gender identity, and that clubs should “wherever possible” maintain private changing areas for the comfort of all members.

The Concord incident is not the first time Planet Fitness has faced backlash over the policy. In March 2024, the company revoked the membership of an Alaska woman, Patricia Silva, after she photographed a transgender woman in the women’s locker room at a Fairbanks location. That episode touched off a social media firestorm that coincided with a roughly $400 million drop in the company’s market value in the days that followed.

Ms. Walcott said she is speaking out because she believes the policy is unfair to women.