Gym owner David Barton is having a bad couple of months. First, he and wife Susan Bartsch split in December, and now Barton’s embroiled in a sexual-harassment lawsuit. Two of his lesbian employees are claiming that they were harassed on the job because of their sexual orientation — and that Barton was often the one leading the charge. Deborah Cooke and Christina Rodino say that Barton made inappropriate gay jokes about the two of them: He allegedly entered Cooke’s name in his phone as “Dyke Cooke,” and once reportedly asked her if she was “going to strap on a penis tonight.”
Barton — or Barton’s lawyer, anyway — denies the accusations. The gym claims it terminated the pair because they were taking on outside client work. Cooke and Rodino say that other gym trainers were doing the same thing but were not reprimanded.
Lesbian fitness trainers cry foul over treatment at celeb gym David Barton [NYDN]
