A man who claimed to identify as a woman was arrested for indecent exposure to a minor after he walked around naked in the women’s locker room at a Planet Fitness location and asked a woman to rub lotion on him and take a shower together.
Christopher Allan Miller, 38, was reported to police as harassing women at the Gastonia Planet Fitness in North Carolina prior to entering the locker room.
A woman who called 911 told the dispatcher that the man who entered the locker room was “completely naked.” Miller allegedly asked a woman to shower with him and rub lotion on his body, WSOC-TV reported.
“Yeah, he is still in the bathroom,” the woman told a 911 dispatcher. “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.”
Miller was subsequently arrested and charged with indecent exposure to a minor, WSOC-TV added.
On its website, Planet Fitness outlines its “Non-Discrimination Policy,” which states that all gym members “will have access to restroom and locker room facilities that correspond to their self-reported gender identity to the extent permitted by applicable law.”
“At Planet Fitness, the safety of our employees and members is our top priority, and we have zero tolerance for harassment of any kind in our clubs,” McCall Gosselin, chief corporate affairs officer at Planet Fitness, told The Christian Post Friday in response to the incident in Gastonia.
“We took immediate action to ensure the safety of club members, including notifying and working with law enforcement.”
The incident involving the naked man in the women’s locker room comes at a time when Planet Fitness’ trans policy has been the focus of media headlines.
Late last month, Planet Fitness Co-Founder Michael Grondahl criticized the gym franchise's policy of allowing men in women's locker rooms during an interview
with Libs of TikTok founder Chaya Raichik.
"Planet Fitness was like another child for me. And I put my heart and soul into building that company, and it's been pretty much destroyed in, you know, it's lost all respect within the country within the last couple of weeks," Grondahl said. "There's no common sense standing behind this."
The interview took place after Alaska Planet Fitness revoked Patricia Silva's membership. Silva went viral after she posted several videos online about her encounter with a trans-identifying man shaving his face in the women’s locker room.
The woman claimed that a 12-year-old girl covered only by a towel was inside the locker room while the man was present.
However, Planet Fitness claimed that Silva violated its policies by taking a photograph of the man in the locker room and sharing it on social media.
After revoking Silva's membership, reports surfaced last month that a staffer has since accompanied the man while he uses the women's facilities.
An unnamed friend of Silva's alleged that she saw the same man Silva encountered in the women's locker room.
The friend claimed that the Planet Fitness staffer accompanying the man told her that she could go into the stall if she was uncomfortable having a man in the locker room.
The Planet Fitness co-founder questioned the gym's decision to make the man more comfortable instead of women, stating that it's an "extremely dangerous situation."
During his interview with Raichik, Grondahl said it's “devastating” to witness what the company has become.
Michael and Mark Grondahl started Planet Fitness in 1992 after they purchased a gym in Dover, New Hampshire.
According to Mike Grondahl, the pair started Planet Fitness for people who were "intimidated" by fitness centers, and that was the original intention behind the concept of a “judgment-free zone.”
"And now, you fast forward to what's happening today, and 'judgement-free zone' means that, if you're a man, you can use the women's locker room," Grondahl lamented. "Just insane."