June is Pride Month. It’s when brands ramp up their LBGTQ+ efforts while staying unusually quiet for the remainder of the year.
So, Virgin Active took the opportunity to make an announcement. As a sign of good faith and welcoming the trans community to its health clubs, Virgin Active issued a statement on X (formerly Twitter) alerting its gym members about new rules.
It stated that trans people could use the changing rooms that aligned with their legal gender – on condition that they provide official identification documents.
— Virgin Active (@virginactiveSA) April 25, 2024
Instead of a positive outcome, X users soon swamped the app and demanded that their gym memberships be cancelled.
“In a country that records 115 rapes a day, this is about as tone-deaf as it can be. There are no safe places for women and children anymore.
“Let’s see which political party will take up this fight,” wrote a disgruntled online user.
Another shared a screenshot showing a headline stating that Planet Fitness instituted the same rules in its gyms, resulting in its value plummeting by $400m.
— Virgin Active (@virginactiveSA) April 25, 2024
A day later, Virgin Active returned to X and announced it would deactivate its account on June 30 following the backlash against its previous post.
“Hey @X, we need to talk about you. When we first met, you were sharp, witty & playful.
“We were obsessed. But you’ve changed. Slowly shapeshifting from a social platform into a seething, malignant cesspool over time. We’ve come to realise that we want different things.”
Hey @X, we need to talk. About you. When we first met, you were sharp, witty & playful. We were literally obsessed. But you’ve changed. Slowly shapeshifting from a social platform into a seething, malignant cesspool over time. We’ve come to realise that we want different things. pic.twitter.com/lVoDVFhfvY
— Virgin Active (@virginactiveSA) June 26, 2024
The gym franchise said it would be communicating with members on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and LinkedIn moving forward.
Words: Fame Frenzy
