Gym agrees to changes after complaints by Muslims about privacy
4/26/2006, 6:27 p.m. ET
The Associated Press

LINCOLN PARK, Mich. (AP) — A chain of fitness centers has put up partitions in response to complaints by Muslim women about a lack of privacy while they work out.
Fitness USA said Wednesday that it agreed to the changes at its Lincoln Park gym after meeting with a concerned Muslim member of the gym and Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Some Muslim members of the gym said they need to work out in single-sex rooms to meet Islam's standards of modesty. They said they joined Fitness USA because it accommodated this need.
But the gym recently opened a new area open to both sexes, and from there, men were able to see into the women's section, Walid said.
Jodi Berry, administrative director for the chain, based in Oakland County's West Bloomfield Township, said the company had been unaware of the problem. After the meeting last week, Fitness USA installed some panels and frosted glass that completely block off the women's area from the coed room, she said.
CAIR praised the company's decision.
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