Recently, a Michigan woman filed a lawsuit against Planet Fitness after the gym canceled her membership for speaking out against a recent change in policy. The company recently adopted a “Judgement Free Slogan,” which aimed to build clientele by cracking down hard on patrons who discriminated against a person based on their weight, gender, sexuality, etc.

However, along with this change, the branch, as well as many others, adopted a transgender-safe locker room policy. This means that a patron is allowed to use any locker room which they feel is appropriate to their gender, whether it be based on sexual organs or not.

The woman, bothered that a transgender male-to-female patron was using the women’s locker room, prepared a complaint and was then told she could no longer return.

“I feel like it’s kind of one sided,” she said in a statement with MLive. “I feel like I am the one who is being punished.”

The problem lies with the fact that no one should be or feel punished. Planet Fitness has the right to enact that policy and hold her to it, but she also has the right to speak up against things that she does not support.

However, she stated that instead of forcing transgender patrons to use the locker room corresponding to their legal gender, a third locker room should be put in place – an opinion I support.

This past summer, I worked at a summer camp in Michigan. During one session, we had a transgender female-to-male camper in our all-girls unit. The camp had the policy of accepting a campers requested pronouns and names, but still placing them in the unit appropriate to their legal gender. This was not to force them to adopt that gender, but rather to avoid any discomfort within the unit. Our camper was fine with living in an all-girl unit, as he was accustomed to being labeled as female and didn’t wish to cause any mental harm to anyone else.

Were a third locker room to exist, it would solve a huge issue: serving patrons who do not identify with either gender. On Millikin’s campus we have several “gender-free” restrooms, which are designed with both a toilet and a urinal to serve all those who wish to use it. It is open to all members of campus, but was put in place for those who may be uncomfortable using a restroom of their legal gender, or that of their identified gender.

Many places have also adopted gender-free spaces that are meant to be used by anyone who so chooses, with the understanding that those who enter don’t need to judge anyone for their beliefs or otherwise. They have become a safe space. Should Planet Fitness adopt a third gender-free locker room, they would not only be able to quell worries from patrons who are bothered by the presence of someone with the opposite legal gender, but provide a space that can be guaranteed judgement free.