The Thing That Never Happens Happened Again in Massachusetts

My headline is a paraphrase of something J.K. Rowling posted on X yesterday.

The thing that never happens and could never happen and that only evil people predicted would happen has happened again.

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 5, 2026

In this particular case, it happened at a Planet Fitness in Massachusetts last week. 

Cambridge police said they responded to a report of a sexual assault in progress at the Planet Fitness in Porter Square shortly after 9 a.m. Thursday. According to the initial report, a man entered the women's locker room and sexually assaulted people inside.

Laquan Holland, a 40-year-old man, was arrested a short time later.

People who regularly use the gym say they have never had an issue at this location.

"I've always felt safe. Now that I've heard that this had happened, I'll definitely have to look behind my back, which is not a great feeling," said Dr. Yena Do. "I'm going there to work out, undressing out of my scrubs, getting into my workout clothes. So yeah, I'm definitely going to think about that."

A follow up report described what happened.

The first victim said Holland repeatedly struck her, touched multiple private areas on her body without consent, partially removed articles of her clothing and restrained her within a room at Planet Fitness.

The second victim said she learned of the possibility of an ongoing sexual assault, heard the first victim ask for help, saw physical contact and partial nudity by both parties and attempted to intervene. She said Holland then touched private areas on her body without consent and attempted to direct the second victim to touch a private area on his body.

Prosecutors said it does appear that there was "some previous awareness" of Holland by the first victim, but she might not have known him by his full name. The second victim did not know him at all.

Who is Laquan Holland? He's a sex offender with a past conviction for assaulting a 12-year-old and a history of failing to register himself every year as required by the court.

NBC10 Boston has learned that Holland has a lengthy criminal history, including a 2006 child rape conviction. Holland was ordered to register as a sex offender following that case.

According to court documents, Holland has multiple arrests for failing to register as a sex offender, with the most recent failure two months ago in Cambridge...

A family member told NBC10 Boston that Holland was categorized as a Level 2 sex offender for the 2006 conviction that involved the rape of a 12-year-old.

Planet Fitness initially told us that Holland was a member of the gym until his status was revoked following the incident, but the company did not respond to our questions asking if members are screened in any way.

It doesn't appear that any screening took place. Holland was a member of the gym and allegedly brought the first woman with him to the gym so she could use the showers.

Prosecutors said Holland, a member of the Porter Square gym, arrived around 9 a.m. Oct. 1 with a woman he knew after offering to let her use the showers.

But once they arrived, Holland allegedly began hitting her.

The woman fled into the women’s locker room and shower area, authorities said. Holland allegedly followed, continuing to hit and touch her inappropriately while trying to remove her clothing and preventing her from leaving, according to the DA’s office.

The 2nd woman who intervened was an employee at the gym. Holland is not a trans person but Planet Fitness has a policy of allowing people to use whatever bathroom they identify with. In practice that means that a man walking into the women's locker room isn't automatically considered a problem. Prior incidents at other Planet Fitness locations have involved trans-identified men in the women's locker room.

In September of 2023, a strikingly similar incident occurred at a Planet Fitness in Monroe, Georgia.

As Reduxx reported, JaKorbie Dixon, 25, was arrested after allegedly exposing himself to a 15-year-old girl and a 19-year-old female employee in the women’s locker room of a Planet Fitness. The girl’s aunt said Dixon pulled back the shower curtain, stood naked in front of her young niece, and called after her to stay as she tried to leave.

When the family complained, staff allegedly acknowledged previous reports about Dixon, but said he had a right to use the women’s locker room under the gym’s gender self-identification policy. The family’s attorney said Dixon was allowed to continue using the women’s facilities because he “identified” as female. The same report described two separate incidents involving the employee: Dixon allegedly summoned her to the women’s locker room while naked, then exposed himself to her again weeks before the girl’s encounter.

Even if women complain, the policy means that men are always welcome in the women's locker room.

In May of 2026, a New Hampshire woman lost her Planet Fitness membership after she complained about a male in the women’s locker room.

Judy Walcott said she spotted the man hanging his belongings outside a shower and told the front desk the encounter made her uncomfortable, but a staff member said there was nothing he could do due to Planet Fitness inclusivity policies...

The man was later identified as Christopher Beaulieu, a registered sex offender. Court records reviewed by Reduxx showed Beaulieu began transitioning while serving a prison sentence for sexually assaulting a child aged 13 to 16.

There's a simple policy change that would prevent all of these incidents, but Planet Fitness isn't willing to make it. It sound like in this latest case the assault started before the woman entered the women's locker room. Otherwise it's not clear if anyone would have noticed there was a problem.

I'll give Rowling the last word.

Men shouldn't be in women's and girls' changing rooms, period. There is no test in existence to determine whether a man is or is not a threat to women before he's committed an assault. Innumerable men who claim to be women have sexually assaulted women. A simple Google search will give you the names and histories.

Men as a group pose a threat to women, as a group. The statistics don't change when the men identify as women. On the contrary, there are currently more trans-identified men in jail in the UK for sexual offences than there are among the general male prison population.

The reason this man was able to access unclothed women is that Planet Fitness thought it was progressive to let men into women's single-sex spaces. Women have been warning for years that women and girls would be harmed if corporations and institutions decided to placate the trans lobby and admit men to changing rooms and public bathrooms. These sexual assaults were entirely preventable. I repeat: I hope the women who've been assaulted sue.

Editor’s Note: The American people overwhelmingly support President Trump’s law and order agenda.

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