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Sam Penrod reporting A group of college students in Utah County has reached a truce with a popular health club. The agreement comes the day before they planned to protest over the showing of what they call "objectionable music videos and movies."
The students say the protest tomorrow will now be a rally of support for Gold's Gym. "They've decided to make the changes we've asked them to make, and so tomorrow we want everyone to know we're thrilled with Gold's Gym. We're thrilled with the response we've had with them," said Nathaniel Gardner, spokesman for the student group Standing for Decency.
It appears to be a compromise between the student organization and Gold's Gym. Gold's executives say they reviewed the students' complaints and will filter out the most objectionable videos shown in their gyms. It's an attempt to make as many of their customers as satisfied as they can.
The group of college students objected to several music videos shown in the gym. They specifically listed five videos which they say they considered to be pornographic.
The students had started a petition drive against the gym and were planning to picket outside of the Provo Gold's tomorrow. "They've changed the music videos so they are less explicit, and it's a more conservative mix of the music videos there," Gardner said.
The students say the gym will now review every movie before it is shown in the gym's cardio cinema and not show any film that could have content that some could find objectionable.
Gold's executives told Eyewitness News today that after the students brought the videos to their attention, they realized some of them did not fit their corporate values either, and they are taking a balanced approach about what is shown on the TV monitors in the gym.
"We're just thrilled with Gold's Gym. We support them all the way and just glad, you know, this is America in action, listening to the voice of the people and hoping we've inspired people to stand for something as well," Gardner said.
The students plan to protest other businesses in the community that they believe promote indecency. "We do have some other ideas. We're not ready publicly to announce what they are, but Standing for Decency, we have a lot of plans to do as much as we can," Gardner said.
Again, if you see the students outside of the Gold's Gym in Provo tomorrow morning, they are not protesting but showing support for Gold's Gym.
