How an L.A. gym became a refuge for the trans community

AMID A TIDAL WAVE OF ANTI-TRANS LEGISLATION AND FEARS OF PREJUDICE, SAM RYPINSKI’S GENDER-NEUTRAL EVERYBODY GYM OFFERS AN ESSENTIAL SANCTUARY.

- BY MADDIE CONNORS

Photographs by RONALDO BOLAÑOS Los Angeles Times

NEEN C. lifts a dumbbell at a class at the inclusive Everybody Gym, left. The gym has become a haven for the trans community locally and online.

CANDACE Hansen, a PhD candidate in musicology at UCLA, recalls being harassed and forced out of a women's restroom at their hometown 24-Hour Fitness a few months ago.

At the gym, located in Garden Grove, Hansen says they were met with unwelcoming and leering stares before entering the facility. The gendered bathroom presented a thorny dilemma: Which would be the least offensive choice for other patrons, and the least threatening for Hansen? Once inside the women's bathroom, Hansen says an older woman 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 situation to the 24-Hour Fitness staff, who were sympathetic. They escorted Hansen back to the locker room to collect their belongings and offered a private place to change. “It was next to old pool parts and supplies for a kid's swimming class,” Hansen recalls. “It was pretty dehumanizing and sad.”

The experience deepened Hansen's gratitude for the gym they frequent in Los Angeles, Everybody Gym. Everybody Gym, which has been operating in Los Angeles for more than 10 years, like its name implies—is inclusive to all.

Sam Rypinski founded Everybody Gym in January of 2017, a few months after Donald Trump was elected president for the first time. As a trans man, Rypinski says that they experienced discrimination and discomfort at other gyms and yearned to connect with the trans community. “I remember a time when there wasn’t any access to healthcare. There wasn’t access to support. There wasn’t an internet where you could find community.”