A woman who has alleged she was refused from being able to train at a gym in Belfast because she is trans has opened up about the online abuse she has experienced after posting about her ordeal on social media.
Leigh Lyle-Toal put an enquiry into Industrial Strength Fitness NI on Ravenhill Road in south Belfast about signing up for personal workout sessions to aid her weight loss journey.
However, the 41-year-old has claimed that following her enquiry she was met with "transphobia" from the gym owner.
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The ordeal began when Leigh informed the gym she was transgender in her initial enquiry so she could be “upfront” with them
She then was sent this response from the gym: "Just going to be upfront, I would have issues with that so good luck."
With another message quickly adding: "Make sure and post it for attention".
In an interview with the Daily Star, Leigh said that following her posting the exchange on social media the gym owner engaged in “taunting” her by reacting to her post with laughing face emojis.
She said: "He is happy with his choices. I didn’t see any point in communicating with him any longer. It wasn’t pleasant.
"I did the post so other trans know not to approach them."
She had written on Facebook, alongside the screenshots of her enquiry, saying: "This is why I like to be upfront when contacting businesses. #transphobia."
Unfortunately following the incident, Lyle-Toal said she became the brunt of online trolling.
"It makes you think twice about going to gyms and it can even make you think twice about going to new places and speaking to new people. It promotes negative attitudes towards the trans community," she added.
When she was asked if she is afraid in general as a trans person, she answered: “Yes.”
The gym owner however has doubled down on Instagram where they shared screenshots of tweets criticising his move, saying "Imagine having a different opinion".
The owner also shared a legal letter on Facebook which was sent to him by another trans person who said that refusing someone on the grounds of their gender contravenes the Sex Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 1976.
Responding to this, he tagged Lyle-Toal saying she is "going for as much attention as they can get".
When contacted by the Daily Star, the gym owner said "My statement is as follows," and then sent two laughing face emojis.
The trans man who served the legal notice to the gym owner told the Daily Star: "They shared my story saying it’s a matter of opinion - when it actually goes against the equality act 2010 to refuse someone business based on their gender as it’s a protected characteristic.
"Obviously if it was a gender-specific gym that would be a different matter, but it's not."
The gym owner told Belfast Live that his statement remained the same and sent two laughing face emojis.
However, he later came back with the following statement: "Our position of having strong morals and values and protecting our gym members is and will remain paramount.
"We will not be trolled, bullied, or strong-armed into going against common sense and the moral high ground simply because of popular opinion. Furthermore, the Daily Star got it wrong as we never denied access nor membership to anyone for being transgendered (sic).
"I was asked for my personal opinion which was if I would feel uncomfortable, and upon giving the answer ‘yes’ lemmings harass and defame us, makes threats and attempts (yet fails) to cancel my business."
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