How an L.A. gender-neutral gym became a sanctuary amid record anti-trans legislation

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Candace Hansen, a PhD campaigner successful musicology astatine UCLA, recalls being harassed and forced retired of a women’s restroom astatine their hometown 24-Hour Fitness a fewer months ago.

At the gym, located successful Garden Grove, Hansen says they were met with unwelcoming and leering stares earlier entering the facility. The gendered bath presented a thorny dilemma: which would beryllium the slightest violative prime for different patrons, and the slightest threatening for Hansen? Once wrong the women’s bathroom, Hansen says an older pistillate started yelling, “You’re a man! You’re a man!” More women joined in, screaming and advancing until Hansen was driven out.

Hansen explained the concern to the 24-Hour Fitness staff, who were sympathetic. They escorted Hansen backmost to the locker country to cod their belongings and offered a backstage spot to change. “It was adjacent to aged excavation parts and supplies for a kid’s swimming class,” Hansen recalls. “It was beauteous dehumanizing and sad.”

Everybody Gym's sex neutral locker country includes backstage showers and changing stations.

Candace Hansen, 39, punches a boxing container astatine Everybody Gym.

The acquisition deepened Hansen’s gratitude for the gym they predominant successful Los Angeles, Everybody Gym. Everybody Gym, which has been operating successful Los Angeles for much than 10 years, similar its sanction implies— is inclusive to all.

Sam Rypinski founded Everybody Gym successful January of 2017, a fewer months aft Donald Trump was elected president for the archetypal time. As a trans man, Rypinski says that they experienced favoritism and discomfort astatine different gyms and yearned to link with the trans community. “I retrieve a clip erstwhile determination wasn’t immoderate entree to healthcare. There wasn’t entree to support. There wasn’t an net wherever you could find community.”

Recognizing the request for solidarity, Rypinski created Everybody Gym, a abstraction wherever queer radical and their allies could coexist. “I’ve ever been passionate astir fitness, and moving retired has been captious for my well-being and feeling safe, feeling assured and feeling bully successful my body. I wanted to bring that to L.A.,” says Rypinski.

The cardinal to its endurance, Rypinski explains, is creating a welcoming environment. “Even the burliest, cis-dude gym rats are coming up to maine each the clip and thanking maine for creating a abstraction wherever they consciousness harmless to enactment out,” Rypinski says.

Everybody Gym laminitis Sam Rypinski wrong the facility's gender-neutral locker room.

It’s worthy noting that successful 2025, hundreds of bills person been introduced astatine the national level aimed astatine restricting trans rights. These bills person targeted gender-affirming care, bath entree and trans people’s information successful sports. An enforcement bid issued by Trump has required passports lone to beryllium issued to genders assigned astatine commencement — discriminating against trans people. In December of 2025, the House passed a measure that would prohibition providing gender-affirming attraction for minors.

“As radical judge they’re losing a definite power implicit their governmental beingness due to the fact that the satellite has stopped catering to hatred, they look to the smallest spot that they tin control,” says Hansen, who has been tracking anti-trans authorities arsenic portion of their PhD. “This twelvemonth is the astir anti-trans authorities successful the past of America.”

Sonny Koch is simply a trans trainer who has worked astatine the gym for 8 years. “It makes it consciousness that overmuch much important that we person this space, particularly astatine this clip wherever trans radical are nether attack,” says Koch, “It feels scary retired there. It’s dangerous. It’s not conscionable moving out, it feels similar a question wherever we’re doing thing bigger than that.”

As a trans trainer astatine a erstwhile gym, Koch recounts immoderate uncomfortable moments surrounding his pronoun use. “It’s been the biggest life-changing acquisition to beryllium capable to bid successful a abstraction that welcomes trans people,” says Koch.

Everybody Gym trainer Sonny Koch, 36, smiles aft starring a workout class.

One of the chiseled features of the gym is its gender-neutral changing room, which Rypinski says is the archetypal of its benignant successful the country. There are backstage changing stalls and showers, but the communal country is unfastened to radical of each sex expressions. “We didn’t privation determination to beryllium immoderate awkward choices for folks who whitethorn usually consciousness similar they person to marque a prime that isn’t truly successful alignment with their identity,” says Rypinski.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Everybody Gym transitioned to a integer video-on-demand work called “Homebody.” Beginning successful 2020, the gym started hosting a integer catalog of its classes. Since then, they person expanded their integer presence, shooting tutorials connected a stage. “‘It’s a mode to beryllium a subordinate anywhere,” Rypinski explains. His purpose is for it to beryllium particularly beneficial for transgender people, some nationally and internationally, who aren’t ever capable to entree a welcoming assemblage wherever they live. “We’ve donated memberships to folks successful the South and successful affected areas wherever they don’t person healthcare oregon resources. We’ve partnered with organizations and connection those arsenic escaped memberships to folks crossed the country,” helium adds.

The gym’s holistic attack to wellness besides extends to staff. Paulo Diaz, 1 of Everybody’s trainers, was moving arsenic a pizza navigator erstwhile helium discovered Everybody Gym astatine a trans occupation fair. After conversations with Rypinski, Diaz earned his trainer certification sponsored by the gym. “I person ne'er heard of a gym doing that — paying for a idiosyncratic to go a trainer.”

In his caller vocation arsenic a trainer, Diaz had recovered the courageousness to research his different involvement — wrestling. “Wrestling is 1 of the astir arguable sports for trans radical to beryllium in. If it hadn’t been for Sam and Everybody sponsoring maine to go a trainer, I would ne'er person the cognition oregon assurance to wrestle,” Diaz adds.

Trainer Koch, left, leads a people astatine Everybody Gym.

Everybody’s committedness to strengthening the assemblage reaches beyond the queer community. As Glassell Park is location to galore Latinx immigrants, Everybody Gym prioritizes Spanish-speaking unit astatine the beforehand desk. “We’re trying to marque it wide that this is simply a harmless abstraction for immigrants too,” says Rypinski. “We instrumentality into information each of the ways gyms fail, not lone successful presumption of sex and benignant of binary spaces, but size, age, ability, ethnicity and economical situations. We effort to marque this affordable.”

In the years since Hansen discovered the gym, it has go thing of a location for them, witnessing them done disappointments, triumphs and adjacent grief. “It became this astonishing landing pad for maine successful presumption of giving myself the country to consciousness unchangeable successful who I was: emotionally, spiritually and physically.”

Beyond the elliptical machines, the sweat-inducing yoga classes oregon weights, it’s the assemblage that makes Everybody Gym strong. “You perceive radical gossiping successful the locker room, oregon you perceive astir chill creation shows that are happening oregon creation parties,” says Hansen. “I ever extremity up making friends.”

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