MORE than 1,000 people have signed a petition to bring back women-only swimming classes at The Pulse in Dursley.

This follows the announcement by Stroud District Council earlier this week that the weekly evening ‘Ladies Only’ session will be changed to both genders from September 6.

The petition, set up on change.org yesterday by former Stratford Leisure Centre lifeguard Molly Zoglowek, from Cam, hit the 500 mark within 24 hours and now stands at 1,057.

“It is important that women and girls have access to these regular sessions to encourage their involvement in physical activity especially for those women who are unable to participate in other session,” said Molly, who is now a welfare officer with Activate Camps as part of the National Citizen Service.

“I do believe that gender integration in sport can be a fantastic tool and that women are often under representation and under estimated in sport.

“However, when it comes to inclusion at a grass roots level, if having in place a Ladies Only session encourages participation from more women then I think it can only be a good thing.

“With the petition reaching over 1,000 signatures now, I'm eager to gather support from sporting National Governing Bodies such as Sport England, Active Gloucestershire and Swim England to influence The Pulse, Dursley to maintain the weekly Ladies Only session.

“Maybe a way to provide ‘equality’ would be to introduce a Male Only session as well, to keep everyone happy, although I do not think this is necessary.”

A message sent to the Gazette claims that the original complainant was not a male but a person who was transitioning from male to female - who identifies as a women – and was refused access to the group.

It states that the woman in question feels “vilified” after the reaction on social media and feels that she was discriminated against when she was stopped from attending the session.

The email reads: “For this women it has been a life of torment and struggle, and making this change in her life has been more than most people will ever have to go through.

“They finally get the courage to go swimming and then they are refused and told that they are not a woman.”

An SDC spokesman said denied that these claims were true.

“In relation to the message sent to the Gazette, which claims to be from the originator of the complaint who states that they had been refused entry, we would like to point out that this is entirely untrue.”

Following the announcement Gloucestershire County Councillor for Dursley Loraine Patrick hit out at the decision, saying that a number of swimmers would now be put off from using the facility.

“For some women it has taken a lot of courage for them to even take part in the women’s sessions,” Cllr Patrick told the Gazette.

“Now because of one man’s complaints these sessions have been denied to them.

“Rather than getting rid of them, why not just introduce a male-only session as well?”

Stroud District Council, which operates The Pulse, stated that the decision was made in accordance with strict legislation – The Equalities Act 2010.

A spokesman said: "There has been a strong response to our decision to end the ladies only swimming sessions after we received a complaint alleging that we were breaching equalities legislation.

"With the benefit of hindsight we should have taken legal advice and more time to consider our response rather than acting so quickly.

"The new swimming timetable is due to start in September so we will be taking the next few weeks to consult with our customers directly to get their views before we decide on what to do.

"We hope that our customers will be happy that we have taken this action and apologise to them for any inconvenience caused.

"The Pulse and its staff are held in high regard by its customers and the local community and we hope that this issue will not affect that excellent relationship."

One signatory on the petition, Josephine Bartosch, claims that there is an exemption in this act which allows single-sex activities.

To sign the petition visit bit.ly/2uselxj