Alaskan Patricia Silva has been banned from Planet Fitness for posting a photograph of a man shaving in the women’s locker room.

The man? He’s allowed to stay and is welcome to continue using the facility, including the women’s facilities.

“As the home of the ‘Judgement Free Zone,’ Planet Fitness is committed to creating an inclusive environment,” the company’s chief corporate affairs officer McCall Gosselin told Fox News.

“Our gender identity non-discrimination policy, states that members and guests may use the gym facilities that best align with their sincere, self-reported gender identity. The member who posted on social media violated our mobile device policy that prohibits taking photos of individuals in the locker room, which resulted in their membership being terminated.”

What Planet Fitness left out of their statement was the fact that a twelve-year-old girl wrapped in a towel was also present in the locker room. These details always seem to be left out of corporate communication missives that wash over the practical in favor of the politically correct.

Media outlets have been reporting the company declined to answer whether they believed the man was aligning with his “sincere, self-reported gender identity” – but such absurd criteria are rooted in a lie.

That’s because it’s irrelevant what someone thinks about their gender. Thinking or believing a lie doesn’t somehow or some way make it true. Playing along and going along to perpetuate someone’s sexual confusion does no one any favors – and does irreparable psychological and mental harm on countless others.

In a series of social media posts about the incident, Silva shared, “I realize he wants to be a woman … I love him in Christ, he’s a spiritual being having a human experience. He doesn’t like his gender, so he wants to be a woman. But I’m not comfortable with him shaving in my bathroom.”

Patricia Silva speaks for many who are being bullied and shamed into silence. We’re told that objecting to such insanity is bigoted, hateful, harmful, and inappropriate.

You know what it is? It’s common sense.

Men don’t belong in women’s locker rooms. Children, especially, shouldn’t be exposed to naked adults of the opposite sex.

Planet Fitness has chosen to “cancel” Silva’s membership – and it seems plenty of people like Silva have decided to cancel Planet Fitness.

According to reports, the company’s value has dropped over $400 million since news of the incident was made public.

Whether we’ve reached a cultural tipping point remains to be seen, but it’s past time for people to speak up and push back.

It’s time to say out loud what so many have been thinking inside.

We don’t demean – but we can denounce. We shouldn’t be obnoxious, but we’re called to be bold in the Lord, clear and unwavering. Our silence won’t soothe, and it won’t save. In fact, it may well help send someone into eternal misery.

“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control,” wrote the apostle Paul (2 Tim. 1:7).

What good is our voice if we don’t use it? Why does the Lord provide us with a platform if not for us to leverage it?

As we pray for this boldness, we might be encouraged by the example left for us in the Book of Acts. As you’ll recall, Peter and John were warned by the authorities to stop preaching about Jesus. So, they prayed:

Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus (Acts 4:29-30).

Following their prayers, we read the earth shook “and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31).

May the same be so for you and for me in 2024 and beyond.