A controversial update to Jims Fitness’s internal regulations has sparked outrage among members and Internet users. Faced with the mobilization, the gym deleted the article concerned and apologized.
The Jims Fitness gym found itself at the heart of a controversy this Tuesday, after the announcement of a new measure aimed at banning religious, political or protest signs from 2025. This decision, mentioned in an e-mail sent to members, immediately caused an uproar.
Jamal, a member, testified via the orange Alert us button: “This decision excludes many members for their beliefs or their appearance. It will affect veiled women, kippah or cross wearers, but also people wearing LGBTQ+ or protest t-shirts. Why should a gym censor symbols that do not affect the safety or inclusion of others?”
Indignation was also expressed on social networks, where many Internet users denounced this update of the general conditions. “So a woman who wears a veil will no longer be able to practice her sport?”asked a user on Facebook.
A contested policy of neutrality
At the origin of this controversy, article 8 of the internal regulations stipulated: “In order to respect Jims members and collaborators in all their diversity, Jims chooses to apply the principle of neutrality. This means that Jims collaborators do not show any visible signs linked to personal political, religious, social or philosophical preferences . Jims asks members to respect the same principle in order to avoid potential conflicts as much as possible.
A wording perceived by many as discriminatory. Critics quickly pushed the company to respond.
Jims Fitness’ Apologies
Contacted about this, Silja Decock, Jims’ spokesperson, apologized: “First and foremost, we would like to apologize to our members for this misunderstanding. Everyone is and remains welcome at all of our Jims clubs.”
She recognized an error in the communication: “Today we sent an information email to our members to let them know that the terms and conditions had been updated. This email also incorrectly referred to the principle of neutrality.”
Insisting on the brand’s values of inclusion, the woman clarified: “At Jims we can be very firm that everyone is welcome at our clubs, it doesn’t matter what clothing our members wear, as long as it allows for safe exercise.”
Removal of controversial article
Faced with the scale of the dispute, Jims Fitness announced the immediate deletion of the disputed article. “We will rewrite the terms and conditions so that they conform to our vision as well as our daily reality. This will be resolved today, during the day,” assured the spokesperson.
The article on the principle of neutrality was actually removed from the Jims website during the day.
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