A Vancouver gym has been cleared of allegations that it discriminated against a former fitness coach because he is gay.

The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal ruled that complainant Derek Bedry was fired from Raincity Athletics because he was not a good trainer, and rude to clients.

In his decision, tribunal member Paul Singh gave weight to testimonies presented by the side of Raincity Athletics owner Simon Damborg.

Two of the witnesses were a gay man, who is a client, and a lesbian, who works in the gym.

The gay man, whose identity was anonymized by the tribunal, is a personal training client of Damborg.

“When he first hired Mr. Damborg as a trainer, he says he did not notify Mr. Damborg of his sexual orientation as he first wanted to gauge whether Mr. Damborg was homophobic,” Singh wrote. “He says he eventually disclosed his sexual orientation to Mr. Damborg once he was satisfied that Mr. Damborg was not homophobic.”

According to the witness, he trains with Damborg “about three times a week when in town and has never experienced any homophobia from him”.

“He says he would not allow Mr. Damborg to be his trainer if he was homophobic,” Singh wrote. “He says he never heard Mr. Damborg or any member of the Raincity staff make any homophobic or other inappropriate remarks to him or others.”

In addition, the gay client has “openly discussed his personal life with Mr. Damborg without fear of jokes, or insensitive or homophobic remarks”.

“He says Raincity is the most inclusive, friendly and welcoming gym he has ever trained at,” Singh wrote.

Elizabeth Carrier, a lesbian and manager at Raincity Athletics, also testified.

“She says one of the first things she did upon getting employed at Raincity was to recommend and to assist Mr. Damborg with hiring another full-time fitness coach who was also a lesbian,” Singh wrote in his reasons for decision.

Carrier testified that “managing Mr. Bedry was more difficult than managing other coaches because he required more communication and guidance than other coaches to complete the same duties”.

“She says he did not appear to meet the basic requirements of being a fitness coach at Raincity,” Singh wrote. “She also says he was the only coach for which she consistently heard negative feedback from clients, including that they actively avoided his classes.”

Carrier also refuted Bedry’s claim that “she told him Mr. Damborg was uncomfortable around gay men”.

“She says the relationship amongst staff, including Mr. Damborg, was informal and that they sometimes joked with each other about things like there being ‘too many lesbians on staff’,” Singh noted. “However, she says these jokes were lighthearted and not malicious or abusive homophobic comments as alleged by Mr. Bedry.”

Damborg testified that at one time, half of his staff was comprised of members of the LGBT community.

Bedry also claimed that Damborg resisted his suggestion for gender neutral washrooms in the gym.

According to Singh, Raincity Athletics installed gender neutral washrooms “within a year of Mr. Bedry’s request”.

“In the instant case, I am satisfied that the Respondents have established a reasonable non-discriminatory explanation for terminating Mr. Bedry’s employment,” Singh stated. “Specifically, I am satisfied that Mr. Bedry’s employment was terminated solely because of poor performance issues that were prevalent throughout his employment at Raincity.”