Physical trainer Justice Williams had a vision to empower LGBTQ+ people with all the physical and mental benefits of working out, and he’s put that vision into practice with a pop-up “Queer Gym” in Brookline.
“[Gyms] are hyper-masculine, they’re toxic, they’re about an aesthetic. Being part of the LGBT community, I’ve observed and noticed that people don’t feel comfortable in gyms today,” Williams said in an NPR interview broadcast this morning on Morning Edition:
On a recent Sunday in a tiny gym just outside of Boston, physical trainer Justice Williams teaches Leo Morris a stretch called the Brettzel. …
[Morris ]recently had top surgery — which is an operation to remove breast tissue to reflect a person’s gender expression.
“My body looks a little bit different than a lot of the other peoples’ who are in the gym,” they say.
And Morris says that causes some people to stare.
“When you’re working out, you just want to focus on your workout. But when you know that other people are staring at you and then sometimes talking about you, it can be distracting,” Morris says. “It can be demoralizing, you know, when you’re supposed to be pumping yourself up in the gym.” …
Creating confidence is why Williams says he became a personal trainer. Williams is trans, too. Ten years ago Williams needed to lose weight before taking testosterone, and couldn’t find a personal trainer who understood his journey.
“And that forced me to learn on my own so that I could teach the proper way to work out, to be in my body, to polish my armor,” Williams says.
And today, Williams’ armor couldn’t be shinier. Now, he’s hoping to offer that protection to whoever comes to Queer Gym, a place he says honors queer people’s existence. He says the ultimate goal is to arm people in his community with the confidence to navigate all gyms.
But until then, Williams says he’ll try to keep Queer Gym around for as long as necessary.
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