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WATCH: Transgender Man Says He’s ‘Devastated’ After Being Banned from Female-Only Gym

A transgender man was ‘devastated’ when he found out he was banned from the all-female gym he had recently joined after the owner said that members would feel uncomfortable working out near a ‘big person with a male voice.’

Brigid Klyne-Simpson said he signed a membership agreement at Bodyworks, an all-female fitness center located in Parksville, British Columbia, but later found out he would need to go to their second location – a mixed-use facility- because he is trans.

At first, Klyne-Simpson says he was welcomed with open arms at Bodyworks. He said he met with a trainer on Friday who welcomed him – even hugged him – and told him he would be safe at their gym.

The warm welcome, however, was revoked only a few days later when he got a call telling him that ‘they made a mistake’ that he wasn’t supposed to be at the women-only location, but could go to their mixed-use location.

The owner, Dale Nagra had told Klyne-Simpson that some of the female gym goers did not feel comfortable. He said he ‘was extremely devastated’ by the decision, and said ‘there’s really no other word for it.’

Kyle-Simpson told CHEK News that he had been a member of co-ed gyms before, but never felt comfortable because of the mostly male members, and felt like him authentic-self at at an all-female gym.

‘It was important to me to be in a place where I explicitly accept, like, ‘You’re a woman, you’re allowed to be here,’ he said.

He shared that he dropped out of college because he said he was ‘intimidated to be in the college gym with a bunch of mostly really muscular guys.’

‘So finding a women’s gym was something that seemed really exciting, and now that I’m gone I understand why I felt uncomfortable in the other place.’

Last Friday – a few days after she enrolled at Bodyworks Fitness – he went for his first personal training session. She said she had a training session for more than an hour, and felt pumped and said she had a ‘great time.’

‘One of the trainers there greeted me and she was very nice and basically she could tell straight away that I’m trans and said I would be welcome there and specifically said I would be safe too and even hugged me,’ Klyne-Simpson said.

But, the on Monday she got the call from the same person who had trained him, and recalled them saying: ‘Sorry, we made a mistake, you’re not supposed to be here, but you’re welcome to use the mixed facility,’ she said.

Despite, Klyne-Simpson’s distress, the gym owner stood by what he told him.

‘We want them to be comfortable, but we also have to be concerned about the young girls this gym is set up for and the women and how are their parents going to feel that they’re in there, then comes on this person with an all-male voice and great person,’ Nagra said.

‘So now you choose the consolation of the man identifying as a woman … and then anybody can go in there and say, ‘Okay, I identify as a woman and I want to be able to go in there.’

‘So do we choose the comfort of the transgender person, and they might not be as comfortable with the co-ed gym, but at least that’s an alternative, or do we choose the comfort of the young girls who train there, that might not be comfortable?’

WATCH:

https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1616261342691737603

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