Get woke, go broke. That seems to be Planet Fitness’s business model; they sure look like an organization determined to commit financial suicide. In their latest incident of stepping on a rake, they have hired a new CEO, one who has a long history not of successful stewardship of major corporations, but of advocacy for “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” (DEI) policies.
Good move, Planet Fitness!
Planet Fitness, which plummeted $400 million in value in March after gym-goers boycotted the franchise over a transgender policy, announced it was hiring a new CEO Tuesday who has a history of pushing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
Colleen Keating headed FirstKey Homes for the past four years, where she signed onto the “CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion pledge,” which promises to “continually strive to diversify our workforce, hiring through a DE&I lens to find talent in multiple locations and backgrounds,” according to The New York Post.
In LinkedIn post from two years ago she said she signed the CEO DEI pledge “to crystallize my unwavering commitment to advancing #diversity, #equity and #inclusion in the workplace and the communities we serve.”
The new CEO may want to speak to the marketing people for Bud Light.
Previously on RedState: Planet Fitness’ Loose Policy on Men in Women’s Bathroom Adds to Their Mounting Troubles
NC Planet Fitness Under Fire After Alleged Trans Woman Gets Cuffed Over Shocking Bathroom Incident
The company’s policy first became a national issue because of an incident right here in the Great Land, when a man was shaving (his face! His face!) in the women’s locker room at Planet Fitness in Fairbanks. One of the female patrons, Patricia Silva, objected. She photographed the man – breaking the rules for Planet Fitness locker rooms – following which her membership was terminated. Granted, Patricia Silva was photographing someone in a locker room, and that is a violation of the company’s rules and is almost certainly included in Planet Fitness’s membership agreement. With that being said, Mrs. Silva has every reason to object to a man being in the women’s locker room, and Planet Fitness, in effect, told her to pound sand. That’s not an acceptable response to a complaint about an unacceptable situation.
Planet Fitness’ “use whatever locker room you like, regardless of what wedding tackle you possess” policy has resulted in problems across the country.
On April 4, 38-year-old Christopher Miller was arrested and charged by North Carolina police for indecent exposure in the women’s locker room at a Planet Fitness for allegedly stripping naked and asking a teen to shower together, all while declaring he identified as a woman.
And:
In the fall, a 25-year-old man allegedly exposed himself in front of a 15-year-old girl at a Planet Fitness in Georgia, and 45-year-old Layton Kessler of North Dakota was arrested for installing devices to record women at another one of the gym’s locations.
But wait! There’s more!
Earlier this winter, Fox 2 reported that in Michigan, local police arrested 30-year-old Jeremiah Wiltfong for masturbating in his vehicle at a Planet Fitness parking lot as he reportedly recorded women walking by.
OK, we can’t really hang that last one on Planet Fitness; it was in the parking lot. But you get the idea.
Planet Fitness is a private company and is of course entitled to set its own policies and rules. But – they are also required to live by the consequences of those policies and rules. Allowing men in women’s private spaces – locker rooms, bathrooms, and so on – doesn’t seem like a policy that bodes well for the long-term survival of the company. People who expect women to have exclusive use of women’s locker rooms will take their business elsewhere, and that is as it should be.
If Planet Fitness crashes and burns because of these policies, then so be it – let it serve as a lesson to American business, pour encourager les autres.
