A new bike group aimed at providing a safe workout space for LGBT people had its inaugural ride in Ottawa this week.
Bike Yeah! is one of several groups in the city offering physical activity targeted at gender identity rather than skill level, joining the ranks of a monthly swim for transgender children and a fitness room for LGBT people.
"It's just important to make people feel comfortable and create a community where people can come and know they're going to be respected," Josephine Masterson, the co-founder of Bike Yeah!, said.
Creating space
The social bike ride group enjoyed a warm spring evening for its first ride on Monday, and plans to cycle together every two weeks.
Anything that is an obstacle or barrier to being part of different groups isn't so much a barrier in our group...- Josephine Masterson
Masterson, who identifies as queer, said she first noticed a gap in local fitness programs catered toward the LGBT community after hearing from a friend — and later, co-founder — that similar programs were offered in other Canadian cities.
"It just seems like here in Ottawa, there's a great biking community but there's not a lot of room in it (for LGBT people) …The more I was going out biking with people who felt that way, conversations started and it kind of led way to looking for more room for ourselves," she said.
No requirements, no exclusions
Being a part of a group based on commonality rather than skill doesn't just mean shared experiences, but safety, accessibility and acceptance, she said.
"Anything that is an obstacle or barrier to being part of different groups isn't so much a barrier in our group, because we're openly talking about things that maybe are obstacles for different folks," Masterson said.
Masterson said 18 cyclists participated in the seven-kilometre ride and team dynamics fell into place quickly.
Masterson said she plans to continue the bike rides throughout spring and summer.
Swimming carefree
Ottawa is also home to a monthly one-hour swim night for transgender youth up to age 24 offered by Family Services Ottawa and Ten Oaks Project, a charitable organization that organizes programs for LGBT youth.
The swimming program launched in early 2016, Hannah McGechie, an executive director at Ten Oaks, said.
When a person transitions to another gender, their exercise routine could suffer, McGechie said.
"One of the first things they stop doing is a lot of different athletics and a lot of physical recreation because they're concerned about how other people are going to look at them or treat them," she explained.
Swimmers often bare a lot of skin, something that some transgender people may be uncomfortable doing, she added.
"It's quite wonderful because trans children and youth often don't have a lot of spaces where they feel comfortable swimming as their authentic selves or in bathing suits that affirm their gender and their bodies," McGechie said.
She said she has seen as many as 30 youth and their friends fill the Jack Purcell Community Centre pool — where the swim is hosted — some coming from as far as Kemptville.
"The fact that they're driving into Ottawa … on a Saturday night is pretty cool, and indicates their need and their love of the program," McGechie said.
She said the swim is the only recreation activity in Ottawa aimed at transgender youth.
A spokesperson from the City of Ottawa confirmed that the city does not offer LGBT-specific fitness programs.
A 'disproportionate amount of harassment'
Manajiwin is a body-positive fitness room offering LGBT people a place to work out comfortably at Kind Space, a LGBT community centre on Somerset Street West.
The name means "respect" in Ojibway and is a partnership between Kind Space and the Odawa Native Friendship Centre, according to Kind Space's website.
"It's (Manajiwin) basically to remove people from those kinds of stigma and those kinds of judgments and bring them into a space where they're not going to experience that," RJ Jones, a board member who helped found the centre in 2016, said.
...If this wasn't an issue, we wouldn't necessarily even need to make this kind of space.- RJ Jones
Jones, who identifies as queer and non-binary, said they felt uncomfortable in regular fitness spaces in the city.
"At least the experiences that I have had going to the gym, is people kind of looking at me not sure if I'm a man or a woman and making assumptions," they said.
LGBT people endure a "disproportionate amount of harassment" in fitness spaces, they said.
"It's important to make that recognition and if this wasn't an issue, we wouldn't necessarily even need to make this kind of space," Jones said.