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

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Siufung Law Wan-ling has been delivering low-cost fitness workshops for LGBT people in Hong Kong, many of whom find going to the gym very stressful. Photo: SCMP/Xiaomei Chen

Published: 7:15pm, 27 Jun 2021Updated: 4:50pm, 29 Jun 2021

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.

Mak, who was assigned female at birth, started masculinising hormone treatment – to alter his hormone levels to match his male gender identity – in August 2019. It was a catalyst for numerous life changes.

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.

Going to the gym, Liam Mak Wai-hon says, makes him feel healthier both physically and mentally. Photo: Liam Mak Wai-hon

Mak spends a few hours at his gym two to three times a week. He considers himself lucky: he was able to find (and afford) a gym with a gender-neutral bathroom, a rare option in Hong Kong. This alternative lifts a little weight off his shoulders – it’s one less discrimination to worry about.