James Uthmeier threatens gym over locker room policy despite state law being silent on private facilities

James Uthmeier at Life Time Fitness. Image via X.

A Palm Beach Gardens fitness center changed its bathroom policies after receiving threats from Attorney General James Uthmeier. But letters from the state’s top legal officer did not cite any Florida statutes stating that such a policy violates the law.

The Republican official posted a video on X after visiting the Life Time Fitness location, saying he “checked it out in person” to make sure the facility no longer allowed transgender women to use women’s locker rooms.

“We heard a complaint that this gym was allowing biological men to go into women’s restrooms and locker rooms,” Uthmeier said in the video. “In Florida, that is unacceptable.”

Uthmeier said the facility had agreed to change its policy and appears to be adhering to that.

“We will not be allowing men into women’s locker rooms and bathrooms, not in Florida,” Uthmeier said. “All businesses are on notice. So we’re here today to make sure that they’re actually following the law. It appears they are.”

Florida in 2023 enacted a law making it a crime to use a bathroom or changing facility for a different gender than assigned at birth. But that law explicitly only applies to public facilities like schools, jails and government buildings. The House bill at one point covered private businesses, but a final version sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis for his signature did not.

The ACLU of Florida, which calls the law “complex, confusing, and vague,” says “private businesses, organizations, and religious institutions are not covered unless they operate inside a state-owned building.”

Life Time Fitness has not returned calls to Florida Politics about the change in its policy. Ownership confirmed to WJNO that the facility will comply with Uthmeier’s legal opinion and change policy, but stressed that the gym remains “committed to welcoming all members.”

A national website for Life Time Fitness says the organization will comply with state laws regarding access to facilities.

But in terms of legal authority, Uthmeier’s letter only references a Palm Beach County human rights ordinance, one that Life Time Fitness owners previously cited to show that gender identity was a protected class.

“Even if that were true, the policy would nevertheless run afoul of Florida laws that safeguard the fundamental rights of women,” Uthmeier wrote, describing transgender women as “men posing as women.”

But he cited no specific state law.

A spokesperson for Uthmeier pointed to a prior online video where the Attorney General said the gym was “putting women and girls at risk instead of following Florida Civil Rights Act.” That act, passed in 1992, protects individuals from “discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, handicap, or marital status.”

Uthmeier does cite a number of troubling examples across the country, including an Oklahoma transgender girl beating a girl in a school restroom, a Virginia transgender sex offender exposing sex organs to women in recreation center locker rooms, and a California transgender girl sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl in a Denny’s restroom.

“As Attorney General, I will protect the rights of Florida women,” Uthmeier wrote. “They deserve safety and privacy in their restrooms and locker rooms. Any entity that puts women at risk for the sake of faddish social engineering should be on notice: my office will hold you accountable.”