21 January 2023 , 18:00
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A transgender woman in Canada was left "extremely devastated" after being told that she could no longer use the all-female gym she'd recently joined.
Brigid Klyne-Simpson initially received a warm welcome when she signed up to join Bodyworks Fitness for Women in Parksville, British Columbia, Canada.
But just a few days after she had joined she received a phone call to tell her that the gym had made a "mistake" and she was not welcome anymore at the women's fitness centre.
The owner said that Brigid would make other gym-goers feel uncomfortable as he described her as a person with an "all-male" voice.
Brigid says she never felt comfortable in co-ed gyms (Chek News)Brigid said that it was "really exciting" to find an all-women's gym after she dropped out of college because she was "intimidated" by "muscular guys" in the college gym.
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When she first signed up for the all-ladies gym she said she was made to feel very welcome by the staff.
She told CHEK News: “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".
After the positive experience, she immediately signed up for a membership and returned for her first workout last Friday, where she had a "great" time training for more than an hour.
But just days later, something changed.
Brigid was banned from Bodyworks Fitness for Women (Chek News)“Then on Monday I got a call from the same person who basically said, ‘Sorry, we made a mistake, you’re not supposed to be here, but you’re welcome to use the mixed facility,'” Brigid recalled.
“I just hung up because I mean, I was extremely devastated, there’s really no other word for it.”
Dale Nagra, the owner of Bodyworks Fitness, said that Brigid was welcome to train at their other co-ed gym in Parksville as he insisted the company "don’t discriminate at all".
But Brigid says that she's never felt comfortable at co-ed gyms because of mostly male facilities.
She said her initial experience at the gym was a positive one (Chek News)“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,'” she said.
Owner Nagra said that the gym was looking out for the comfort of young girls who train at there.
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He said: “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,
“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?”
Brigid says she understands that some people might be uncomfortable by her presence at first but all it takes is "education".
She explained: "Once you understand that trans women are women, trans men are men, non-binary people are who they say they are, it’s that simple,
“If you’re still uncomfortable afterward, that’s on you, not me. I am who I am, it’s as simple as that. I just look different. That’s all.”
The owner of Bodyworks claimed that Brigid would make young girls uncomfortable (Chek News)Nagra said that Bodyworks has "all kinds of people" at their co-ed gym and defended their decision, adding: "We already have transgender people here and all kinds of people, we don't discriminate at all,
"We have employees who belong to minorities, so we're not saying there aren't solutions, we're looking for a solution and we're not discriminatory people."
Brigid said she would no longer want to return to Bodyworks but has since contacted British Columbia and Alberni Valley Pride human rights commissioner about the incident in an attempt to help others from going through a similar situation.
She said: "I have to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone because that happened to me.”