Alaska NBC

Planet Fitness gyms across our region are now among the latest of the chains locations receiving hoax bomb threats in just the past several weeks.Dozens of Planet Fitness gyms have been targeted nationwide, and many advocacy groups say they know why. “All of the sudden I hear a siren going off,” said Kenny To, after he and other Essex Junction Planet Fitness members were interrupted mid-workout Wednesday evening, and left standing outside in confusion.To spoke to NBC5 during the evacuation and said, “They all say, ‘What is going on?’ I see some people start to walk out of here, and then I start to follow them. Now I’m outside right now waiting.” Local police departments in St. Albans, South Burlington, and South Burlington had to sweep the PF locations in town.In New York, state police and their K9 units did a search of the Plattsburgh gym. While To and dozens of other members waited to hear why they had to drop the weights, local police brought the investigation to federal agencies which have been aware of the hoax threats since the first one was made to an Alaska location in March.The Fairbanks Planet Fitness is where a 67-year-old woman had her membership suspended after filming a transgender woman shaving in the locker room, which she posted online.Since then, fake bomb threats have been made to multiple gyms in Florida, Michigan, Maryland, Connecticut, and the list goes on.Meanwhile, LGBTQ+ advocates are sounding alarms for the real threat posed to their community, now including in Vermont. Dana Kaplan, the executive director for Outright Vermont, shared his concern. “There is a disproportionate amount of attention that is being paid on trans people right now, specifically within sports and locker rooms, and it just needs to stop,” he said. “It’s outright damaging.”Kaplan also said the threats amplify the hypervigilance trans people have in shared public spaces. “This is this is intended to scare people,” he said. “It’s intended to create doubts about where you show up in the spaces that you’re safe in. And there’s real impact, whether it’s a hoax of a threat or not.”While gym-goers have voiced frustration over their workouts being inconvenienced, advocates, like Kaplan, want all community members to view this string of threats as a stark reminder of an intensifying problem.”We have more anti-trans bills that have been introduced in this last year when the previous year was the record number of bills. So, we just see this level of harm escalating,” Kaplan said.Planet Fitness released a statement earlier this month in response to the hoax threats, reiterating their inclusivity policy and emphasizing their priority of making members feel safe and comfortable.