Orangetheory's History of Transphobia

I really don’t want to be writing this right now. We’re in a global pandemic and there is so much systemic inequity to continue to address, as folks have been doing for centuries. I’m personally trying to participate in Chicago COVID-19 Hardship and Mutual Aid work while also giving my body and soul time to rest. Other than supporting loved ones and neighbors, I’ve been trying to finally integrate all the self-care and community care practices I’ve talked at length about for years.

A huge concept that I struggle with is sense of urgency, which has a lot more nuance than usual during this time when societal issues are as urgent as ever, decisions need to be made, yet life is seemingly moving even slower than usual. All of that preface being said, this issue has persisted for almost two years and I’ve given countless hours of free labor and education to countless Orangetheory employees without much change, and without any form of accountability.

While COVID-19 will eventually subside, discrimination and oppression may not. We’ve actually seen racism and specifically sinophobia skyrocketing. A lot of us have more free time right now to address inequity and marginalization more directly.

Hi, I’m Jes. I’m nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them. I’ve been a member of Orangetheory in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago for almost two years; I began in May of 2018. Here I am going to log the many instances of trans-affirming education I gave to OTF Chi-Edge and their responses or lack thereof.

My goal is to raise awareness. Marginalized folks are constantly experiencing microaggressions and macroaggressions everywhere we go. We often do not speak up and there are infinite reasons for this: it’s not safe, there aren’t enough hours in the day to correct everyone who misgenders you, you’re afraid to lose your job or receive repercussions for speaking up, your parents could kick you out, etc. In this case, I spoke up because I was hopeful that if I decided to give of my emotional energy/well-being and time that things could change for me and eventually other trans and gender non-conforming (TGNC) folks could have a potentially welcoming space to tend to their physical health. I was led (by several OTF employees) to believe that they wanted to do better. This experience has also reminded me that sometimes marginalized folks don’t speak up because people aren’t willing to listen, never mind change—and with everything going on in the world, why invest in people like that? Honestly, I feel duped.

TIMELINE

May 2018: I won some free classes through a raffle at a local restaurant so I figured I’d try it. In my very first interaction with a staff member, M., he asked me to fill out an intake form. I don’t remember exactly what it asked for in terms of sex/gender, but I do remember writing “pronouns: they’them” in above where I wrote my name. I remember asking the frontdesk about which option I should pick for my heartrate monitor, M or F. I remember in detail going through the form with M. and discussing the question that asked what is my biggest barrier to committing to working out regularly. I wrote that my biggest barrier was getting misgendered. M. told me not to worry, that he’s a drag queen so he gets it. He then went to introduce me to Cody, the trainer, and said "Jes…. he… she….” and I said “they".” This was day 1.

June 2018: I knew things weren’t going to be perfect. They never are and nobody is. I enjoyed the workouts and I liked Cody as a trainer so I signed up for a monthly membership of 8 classes per month. At this point, the two single-stall bathrooms were gendered.

July 2018: Workout instructions often include “men lift X and ladies lift Y.” I try workouts with a few other coaches but Cody is still my favorite.

August 2018: Cody tells us that he’s leaving OTF to move to Florida to take care of a sick relative. I started taking classes with Meghan and Nick and liked them, too. In less than a year, both of them leave for other opportunities elsewhere.

Over the next few months, I spend some time playing around on the app, changing my “gender” back and forth from male to female to see how it measures my workouts, calories, splat points and heart rate. I’ve asked the front desk several times why there are only two options and why it’s labeled “gender” when it’s really asking for “sex assigned at birth.” I ask what they expect intersex folks to choose. To this day, the app still asks for gender and lists sex options of “male and female.”

At some point, one of the franchise owners called me to hear out my issues. I don’t remember exactly what month this was. He hyper-focused on one of the things I said and insisted that he “gets it because there’s a person who uses they/them at church.” I offered to provide trainings for his staff in exchange for monthly membership. He said he doesn’t have the power to do that. He checked me off his list and I never heard from him again.

January 2019: A new year, new hope? Definitely a new workout contest for OTF in which the only categories are male and female. Who knows how many times I tried to discuss this issue with coaches and the front desk by the point. I took to Facebook to say: I just threw a fit at the gym about the “male/female” categories for the millionth time 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃

February 2019: Although it’s none of the internet’s business, this marks one month on testosterone for me. My workouts feel drastically different and more important than ever for my holistic health. There was a trans-affirming business training in Andersonville, and three of the front desk employees attended. (None of them work at OTF any longer.) They told me that they wished they could do some of the best practices at their job but that management won’t sign off on it.

March 2019: I’m having several conversations a week with other members who keep telling me “you go girl!” I keep giving them resources about why this is hurtful to me. I’m seriously questioning myself and why I’m wasting my time on people who continue to harm me.

April 2019: I’m so distraught by these experiences and lack of change that I start talking about OTF with my therapist. I decide to stick with it and decide that the benefit outweighs the harm for me at this point.

May 2019: I’m continuously raising issues and continuously being told that there’s nothing they can do because it’s a corporate policy.

June 2019: Meghan does my first in-body scan and I’m forced to pick Male or Female yet again. I complain to her about all the reasons this is scientifically incorrect. They send out an e-mail about women who menstruate. I reply and post about it on Facebook. They reply with an apology because I made the Facebook post public.

August 2019: The studio manager thanked me in person for calling them out on the gendered language on their menstruation e-mail. I felt hopeful that things would change.

September 2019: I do my second in-body scan to learn about my body fat distribution. The machine asks for “gender” and only gives two options. Again, no option for intersex folks. I complain to the coach doing my scan yet again.

October 2019: I’m adjusting to two new coaches. I like them both.

November 2019: One of the new coaches says “go ladies!” to a group I’m in. After class I explain to her that I’m not a lady and that I would like her to not say those things to me. She thanks me.

December 2019: Time for another in-body scan and more complaints. I’m starting to seriously give up hope on them. I talk about it yet again with my therapist and decide to stick it out.

January 2020: They announce another contest for “men and women” at the end of class and I scream out in front of everyone “which one should I sign up for?” At this point, my voice is a lot deeper and I have facial hair and when I get angry, it comes off differently than before. I received this e-mail from them as a result. Kelsey told me yet again that I need to talk to corporate because these decisions fall on them, even though OTF-Chi Edge is an independent franchise.

Corporate ended up contacting me, probably because I replied to Kelsey’s e-mail letting her know that I’m either going to cancel my membership or start a petition against them with other members who are allies.

On January 24, 2020 I had a phone call with Paul Reuter, Rachelle Reed, Adam Paris and David Lanz from corporate. They started the call by asking me if I was recording and let me know that they weren’t either. This put me on edge. I let them know what my consultation rate is and that on top of all of the time I’ve already given for free, this is more free labor they’re getting from me. I explained all my issues to them. The doctor on the call had me explain intersex and options they have for being inclusive of intersex people even if the in-body machine can’t change. They didn’t seem to take notes because they asked me to put everything I said into an e-mail. Hoping for the best, I did it. I sent them all the suggestions that I gave that I could recall along with the links. At the end of the e-mail, I requested that OTF give me the unlimited membership option for the same price I've been paying for 8 classes/month. No reply to that but Paul did reply saying, “Thanks for the time today…..very much appreciated.“

February 2020: Kelsey asked me if I talked to corporate. She invited my small business to table at their health fair. The head coach went around and talked to several tables, but not mine. My colleague with me didn’t get misgendered.

March 2020: So we’re on this quarantine and they’re doing a lot to keep us engaged via instagram and zoom. Yesterday, one of the coaches I like called me to check-in. She said “I was thinking, I haven’t seen her…” misgendering me and causing me to cut the call very short.

I started following their instagram page with plans to do the at-home workouts. They posted a story asking for folks to ask them questions. One of my trans friends asked them a question about trans-affirming language and they blocked her!

Here are the dozen+ other comments they deleted from their recent post which is now deleted. The post was the 3 winners from the “men” and “women” categories of the fitness challenge. They told people in DMs that they took the post down (that a dozen people commented on) and “made adjustments,” yet there are several other posts still up with the same issue.

They also claimed they want to keep their page focused on “positivity for members” in response to why they deleted comments and blocked people. I’d personally label positivity as them replying to people and answering questions about trans-affirming practices they’ve taken and/or are considering. Sweeping issues under the rug for years and deflecting responsibility/accountability is not positive.

OTF Chi-Edge, folks want to know your responses to all their inquiries that you deleted, not a copy and pasted reply.

I want cisgender people to realize that this is just one tiny portion of all the people I interact with who refuse to acknowledge my humanity even though I’ve made countless attempts to teach them. I’m sure I’m missing some receipts here. Frankly, I didn’t keep them because I was optimistic that it would never come to this. I clearly laid out asks for OTF in the e-mail I sent them in January after our phone call.

I no longer have hopes that OTF will change.

For everyone else reading this, if you’re cisgender: please, please, PLEASE try to understand how harmful, exhausting, and redundant these experiences are for so many people. It’s not just about getting our pronouns right. It’s about dismantling these patterns and systems that ultimately lead to very disproportionate statistics of trans folks who are homeless, killed, fired, etc. We cannot keep excusing these things as “small” or “exaggerated.”

For all my trans, gender non-conforming, agender, two-spirit and nonbinary siblings: I love you all and you don’t have to fight for basic human decency and respect all alone. There are a lot of us and a good number of cis allies who have your back. I’m not alone and you’re not alone.