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In April, Beck Beverage was tagged in an Instagram post. It was a callout for trans- and queer-affirming personal trainers. Within a few weeks, the post had more than 150 comments, with trainers shouting out themselves and clients tagging the people they鈥檝e worked with.

For Beverage, who is a certified personal trainer and owner of Sweet Momentum Fitness in Portland, Ore., that was an introduction to an online community of queer and trans trainers across the United States. 鈥淏efore I found out about Decolonizing Fitness, I really struggled with feeling very isolated as a trans person in the fitness industry and as someone trying to build a business based around pretty progressive values,鈥� they said.

In 2017, ,聽according to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association. The number includes YMCAs, community centers, and studios, among other places to work on your fitness. And yet, there aren鈥檛 a lot of places where queer and trans people to feel safe to work out and train.

Queer and trans people often experience discrimination in fitness spaces.聽The very design of gyms, both in the physical buildings and their processes, is often gendered. Intake forms offer 鈥渕ale鈥� and 鈥渇emale鈥� gender options, and restrooms and changing rooms typically don鈥檛 make room for people who identify as nonbinary. Additionally, people point to 听迟丑别尘.

That鈥檚 where the Decolonizing Fitness database comes in. Ilya Parker, owner of 聽to confirm the need to create a free, downloadable list of fitness trainers and movement trainers who provide affirming services for queer and trans clients.

鈥淚 hope Decolonizing Fitness can help improve the lives of trans, queer, fat, gender-nonconforming, disabled, and chronically ill people by carving space for us to exist freely just as we are,鈥� Parker wrote by email. 鈥淚 firmly believe that fitness can be used [as] a healing modality which will offer us room to reconnect with and find peace in our bodies.鈥�

Decolonizing in the fitness world means creating spaces where trainers and clients are intentionally accepting of everyone, no matter their gender, sexual orientation, race, or any other identity. For example, there鈥檚 a body-positive gym in Oakland聽that was founded with the purpose of meeting the needs of everybody who uses the space.

Since Parker, a licensed physical therapist assistant and medical exercise coach, started the database, it has grown to include about 100 personal trainers, strength coaches, yogis, and other fitness or wellness professionals. They鈥檙e based in many U.S. cities and the database even includes a few international listings鈥攊n Melbourne, Australia, and Toronto.

Bianca Russo, a personal trainer and founder of Body Positive Boot Camp in Washington, D.C., was one of the first people to respond to Parker鈥檚 post about queer- and trans-affirming trainers. She said she felt uncomfortable in previous gyms, and most fitness services aren鈥檛 鈥減ositive, inclusive, trans-affirming鈥� like the one she owns and others on the database.

鈥淭he business model stands for almost the antithesis of what the greater general fitness community is putting in everybody鈥檚 faces,鈥� Russo said, noting that Decolonizing Fitness is encouraging all fitness and wellness professionals to make their work more inclusive and accessible.

鈥淭he focus is shifting from only centering cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied people,鈥� Parker wrote. 鈥淭he database is prompting people to be mindful of those who carry multiple marginalized identities.鈥�

鈥淭he database is prompting people to be mindful of those who carry multiple marginalized identities.鈥�

In addition to the database, Decolonizing Fitness has a growing (16.9K followers as of this writing). There, Parker posts messages related to health, racial, and queer justice as well as photos and videos of people who are queer, trans, and/or of color in fitness spaces.

Both Russo and Beverage said Decolonize Fitness has helped them connect to other trainers across the country. Beverage recalled a post where trainers discussed how they make their businesses accessible and others where Parker discussed how trainers can maintain active awareness of their clients鈥� various identities when working out.

Having this awareness is important because a person might have different needs related to identity. For example, people using chest binders might need to adjust their reps because the garment can affect the ability to flex and cause shortness of breath.

鈥淭hese are conversations, that for me, I don鈥檛 get to have in networking groups or in other places,鈥� Beverage said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 giving a voice to folks … totally overlooked and not taken seriously.鈥�

On another post about social media allowing marginalized people to engage in important conversations, one user commented,聽鈥淚 found you recently while looking for alternative spaces in health and fitness world outside the heteronormative mainstream, and I鈥檓 so glad I found you.鈥�

This is one of those examples of social media providing a constructive learning tool for connection. Decolonizing Fitness helps each body and gender find its role in being an ally to their neighbors who may not identify in the same ways that they do.

This article was funded in part by a grant from the Surdna Foundation.