A gym where LGBT people feel safe working out: how inclusive spaces for exercise empower those who face stigma, rejection in their daily lives
- Working out can be a challenge for the gender-expansive community, who face discrimination in their daily lives, if they can’t find a gym where they feel safe
- In response, a genderqueer bodybuilder and ambassador for the Gay Games in Hong Kong is leading inclusive fitness workshops for the LGBT community
Since he came out as a transgender man four years ago, Liam Mak Wai-hon has placed sport at the centre of his transition. Going to the gym, he says, makes him feel healthier – physically and mentally.
“I blow off steam, I feel more masculine, and it helps me match the image I want to project,” he says.
Soon afterwards, he founded Quarks, an organisation to support transgender youth. He also stopped his pursuit of a social science bachelor’s degree to study wine and beverage management. None of these developments would have been possible had he not been in stable mental and physical health, he notes.
“Gyms are very sex-segregated spaces. It’s difficult to feel safe,” he says.
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He recalls the ordeal of a friend, a transgender man passionate about fitness, who felt discriminated against at different gyms in Hong Kong.
Staff often banned him from using the changing rooms, bathrooms and lockers, forcing him to use a washroom in a nearby shopping centre. Personal coaches were often rude to him. He had to change gyms several times to work out safely “just like everyone else”.
The transgender community also faces members’ prying eyes while working out. “If the gym doesn’t reject us, its users will,” Mak says.
Instead of being a means of stress relief, working out can become an additional burden to the so-called gender-expansive community. The umbrella term encompasses people embracing a fluidity of gender identity, whether they are non-binary, genderqueer (someone who does not identify exclusively as a woman or a man) or transgender (someone whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their birth sex).
“Working out is crucial for both our physical and mental health. But we experience stigmatisation, rejection and discrimination from strangers every day, and gyms aren’t an exception,” Law says. That’s why Law started leading inclusive fitness workshops.
Once a week, the athlete welcomes a few members of the LGBT community for a safe workout session. For an hour, Law takes on the role of personal trainer to show them moves they can replicate at the gym or at home. Law notes: “As a trainer, it’s crucial to know how to communicate, touch, and interact with your client.”
The sessions are meant to make up for the lack of education and inclusivity the gender-expansive community often faces. “To guide them properly, you need to be informed about the way their body works, if they’re taking hormones, if they’ve been through surgeries,” Law says. “Especially to recommend the right supplements, exercises and gear.”
Trainers in mainstream gyms often overlook these points, Law says.
“Body dysmorphia is something I’m not out of yet,” says Mak. “I’ve always thought my hips and my chest looked too feminine. But I’m shaping my body with sport, it helps.”
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“I have to encourage them to take away the binder when we’re working out, but I need to find the right words for it,” Law says. “The words need to come from someone who understands them.”
That’s why Law made it a mission to offer affordable workshops. The average cost for a personal trainer in Hong Kong ranges from about HK$650 (US$84) to HK$1,000 a session.
Aware that transgender people are discriminated against in the job market, and may need to save money for surgeries, Law offers a package of four sessions for HK$600.
Mak finds the time and money to go to these workshops almost every week. As someone who joined mostly out of curiosity, he found “so much more” than what he expected. “I’m more passionate about working out than ever before. And bonding with other transgender people through sports is empowering,” Mak says.
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Law hopes to make the workshops still more inclusive, saying: “I wish our sessions would appeal to more transgender women. They usually don’t want to build too much muscle, to appear ‘more feminine’. It’s a different approach to training that I’m willing to develop.” The goal is to welcome more people, as the need for safe workout places is becoming more urgent, particularly in the run-up to next year’s Gay Games.
Founded as the “Gay Olympics”, the 11th edition of this international sporting and cultural event will be the first in Asia. It is held every four years to promote sexual diversity and inclusivity.
Earlier this month, Hong Kong legislator Junius Ho used “disgraceful” to describe the event, suggesting it would bring “dirty money” to the city. Ho’s reaction highlights the need for organisers to win over “hearts and minds”. It also reinforces the need for inclusive workshops, Law says, “providing a safe space for LGBT people to exercise, especially trans and non-binary people who are usually subjected to stigmatisation in society”.
Law remains optimistic that the workshops are making a difference, and that they will inspire local and commercial gyms to become more inclusive and more understanding of the LGBT community’s needs. Law hopes, too, that they will “embolden those who just want to enjoy the hardcore training at the gym like I do”.