June is Pride Month. It's a time when brands ramp up their LBGTQ+ efforts while staying unusually quiet for the remainder of the year.

So, Virgin Active took the opportunity to make an announcement.

As a sign of good faith and welcoming the trans community to its health clubs, Virgin Active issued a statement on X (formerly Twitter) alerting its gym members about new rules.

It stated that trans people could use the changing rooms that aligned with their legal gender - on condition that they provide official identification documents.

Instead of a positive outcome, X users soon swamped the app and demanded that their gym memberships be cancelled.

"In a country that records 115 rapes a day, this is about as tone-deaf as it can be. There are no safe places for women and children anymore.

"Let's see which political party will take up this fight," wrote a disgruntled online user.

Another shared a screenshot showing a headline stating that Planet Fitness instituted the same rules in its gyms, resulting in its value plummeting by $400m.

A day later, Virgin Active returned to X and announced it would be deactivating its account on June 30 following the backlash against its previous post.

"Hey @X, we need to talk. About you. When we first met, you were sharp, witty & playful.

"We were literally obsessed. But you've changed. Slowly shapeshifting from a social platform into a seething, malignant cesspool over time. We've come to realise that we want different things."

The gym franchise said it would be communicating with members on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and LinkedIn moving forward.