Cape Town - Cassidy Hindley, a 22-year-old transgender woman from Cape Town, has had a roller-coaster ride because of her experiences with local gyms because of her gender.
Hindley was a member of a gym in 2018 and had an experience where a cisgender woman had complained that Cassidy’s presence in the female change rooms had made her uncomfortable.
“The manager came up to me and respectfully explained that because my ID did not reflect my gender, I will have to use the male changing rooms – as this is what their policy dictates,” she said.
The experience traumatised Hindley, and she never went back to that gym.
Since she started hormone therapy a year ago, she decided to get fit but was hesitant to join a gym because of her experience three years ago. Last month, she decided to contact Zone Fitness before joining to find out what their policies are.
She said: “I sent them an email saying that I am a transgender woman who identifies as female. I mentioned that I had already had my gender marker amended at home affairs but was still waiting on the actual document.”
Hindley’s application to home affairs was successful, but due to a backlog caused by the pandemic, the waiting period to receive the actual ID card was extended.
The manager of the Zone Fitness Parow branch responded and said that it is the policy of the gym to go according to someone’s ID and that if Cassidy had to join, she would have to use the male changing rooms.
Hindley immediately wrote back and explained that she was not going to tolerate discrimination.
“I requested a meeting because I was not going to sweep this matter under the rug. I told them that I am going to take this further and that I plan on making a lot of noise about it.”
Later that week, she met with Zone Fitness operations manager Christelle Botondi and Dawie Cronje, group operations manager for the gym.
“I asked them if they are educated and trained on trans and queer rights. I wanted to know if their management is having conversations about implementing inclusive policies for transgender people,” she said.
She added: “I specifically mentioned that there’s a possibility of me getting attacked and raped if I were to use the male changing room.”
Hindley said they could not respond to any of her questions or concerns but that they would speak to management and get back to her.
Yesterday, Hindley received a call from Botondi letting her know that she had the go-ahead to use the female change rooms and apologised for the way the matter was handled and expressed that they were looking forward to her joining the gym.
Cronje shared with us that Hindley’s case is only the second of its nature that the gym has faced in his seven years with the company.
“I went to the owners and asked them if we could assist with her request. We are fitness for all, and we want to ensure that everyone using our gym feels safe and protected. Zone Fitness does not discriminate, but we are afraid of how she might get treated by other members,” he said.
He added that permanent policies regarding the matter are being discussed by Zone Fitness directors.
“We had a meeting about this yesterday and the discussion will continue in the coming week. We need to have policies in place for the next time this happens.”
Cronje added that sensitisation training will also take place and that the HR manager has already been approached regarding this.