A woman who claims she was refused the services of a South Belfast gym because she is trans has said that she has been the target of online trolls after posting her experience on social media.
41-year-old Leigh Lyle-Toal had enquired about personal workout sessions to aid her weight loss journey from Industrial Strength Fitness NI on the Ravenhill Road.
Leigh claimed that after making her enquiry, she was met with "transphobia" from the gym owner who told her he has "issues" working with trans clients.
After making her initial enquiry, Leigh informed the gym that she was transgender in a bid to be "upfront".
Ms Lyle-Toal then received the response: "Just going to be up front, I would have issues with that so good luck."
Another message quickly followed: "Make sure and post it for attention".
Speaking to the Daily Star, Leigh said that after she posted the exchange on her Facebook, the gym owner began 'taunting' by her reacting to her post with laughing face emojis.
"He is happy with his choices," she said. "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."
Following the incident, Ms Lyle-Toal said she was subjected to 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.
Asked if she is afraid in general as a trans person, Leigh responded: “Yes”.
The gym owner doubled down on Instagram, sharing screenshots of tweets criticising his move, saying "imagine having a different opinion".
He shared a legal letter on Facebook 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.
He laughed it off, tagging Ms Lyle-Toal and 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."
When contacted by Belfast Live, the gym owner said that his statement remained the same and sent two laughing face emojis.
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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