Curves in the Road

So one thing I do when trying a new venture is try and research everything I can about it. In the course of my research it came to my attention that the founder of Curves, Gary Heavin is an Evangelical Christian who donates to Pro-life causes. That was not troubling to me as a Roman Catholic woman who supports Pro-choice causes. We all have to live our beliefs, I believe that my 2 daughters were a choice, I chose to have them, no one told me I had to carry my pregnancies to term under threat of law, coercion or punishment. I am grateful that my pregnancies were complication free and undertaken while I had medical insurance and a loving and supportive spouse. However I know that mine is certainly not the only view on the matter and as an informed consumer I decided I needed to disseminate that information here as well.

I also spoke with several owner/operators of various Curves in the Central Florida area, they all told me that no where in any of the corporate literature is there a statement on any social issues one way or the other. This to me seems different from the situation at Chik-Fil-A where corporate funds were used for direct political action.

So, I am presenting this information in the hopes that people can make their own informed decision. The weird thing is I do know three Curves owners personally just by virtue of having lived in some very small towns over the last few years. The women I spoke to either thought of Heavin's position as simply his personal belief, some were troubled and had quietly begun making regular donations to Planned Parenthood and one told me she would not have purchased her franchise had she and her partner known about the extent of Heavin's involvement in pro-life causes.

All the Curves I have ever seen are very active in their communities. The Winter Park Curves I have attended does school supply drives, food drives, and feminine supply drives for homeless women. They also provide a safe, woman only facility for women who's religious traditions prohibit them from attending a co-ed gym. I'm not trying to make up anyone's mind one way or the other, but I do want to make sure I put out every side of the story.

Coming up next, my pursuit of ballet body control and the hilarity that ensues. Seriously. Wobbly isn't a strong enough word for what was going on.