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People’s conflicting perspectives are making their way into an unlikely arena.
Now the Greater Scranton YMCA is cracking down on politics at the gym.
“There’s been some boisterous conversations going on around politics probably over the last six months or so,” explained Trish Fisher, YMCA CEO. “So the board decided to put a policy in place.”
They’re working to make sure members are working out in a welcoming environment by removing 24-hour cable TV stations from their screens, like CNN, MSNBC or FOX News.
“We’ve never really encouraged the more political stations to be on anyway becasue of the converations that go on around it,” said Fisher.
Gyms across the country considered implementing a similar policy during the election.
While there were no reports of physical fights at the local facility, Fisher says there was a close call.
“That was broken up by another member before it escalated to that point. We just figured we’d be proactive about this,” said Fisher.
The postings went up February 28. Since then, Fisher has gotten overwhelmingly positive reaction.
“99.9 percent of the people are saying thank you so much for doing this. I’ve had three emails and a phone call that didn’t agree with it, but I’ve had about 100 members come up and say I’m so glad you did this.”
While safety is their number one priority, not everybody is too keen on the changes.
“I think they made a big mistake with this,” said Bob Perry from Clarks Summit. He’s been a member at the YMCA for more than 50 years. “People have the right to watch what they want, when they want. Because two other people got in an argument, that’s their problem. They should be expelled for a few weeks or whatever they want to do with them. The rest of us shouldn’t be punished for it.”
Other members see it as an acceptible move.
“I think it’s probably a good thing,” said David Stinnett from Jessup. “People are here to do one thing. People who are working out that are involved in that type of conversations don’t want to hear people fighting about politics, current events. I’m OK with local news, but I’m here to workout, not talk politics.”
For more from Times Leader media partner FOX56, click here.
