Several questions arose. Should women be protected from the ogling of men they believe are objectifying them? Do women-only workout areas discriminate against men who have to wait in line to use equipment in the general public area? Should lesbian women be barred from the women-only areas because they might objectify women?
“A reading of to imply a gender privacy exception, although presumably to benefit women, could also negatively affect the rights of women in a different way,” Robinson wrote. “Such an exception could be invoked to exclude women based on the privacy interests of men and could justify discrimination against transgender individuals because some customers, ‘due to modesty, find it uncomfortable’ to be around such people.
The two businesses argued that gyms, unlike other places such as public swimming pools and beaches, are male-dominated locations where women-only areas are needed.