City Gym, a small gym located in Kansas City (in the Waldo neighborhood), was featured hundreds of times in the news in 2015. Why? Because of Google’s ad, the story of Jacob (and other transgender men who belong to the Union) and City Gym. If you have not watched the ad that will pull on your heart strings you can watch it here. The ad aired during the ESPY Awards, and also coincided with Pride Month in June of 2015. Then, the video became viral, and hit the media quick.

The ad includes the story of Jacob, and how City Gym, has given him a place to feel comfortable to work out as a transgender man. He had heard City Gym was LGBT friendly so he started going there. The owner of City Gym, Hailee Bland-Walsh, started doing research on existing training programs for transgender men and could not find any. So she created the 90-day group fitness program called Momentum especially for transgender men.

We are thankful to the City Gym for creating an environment in which everyone belongs, as you can see in the tagline below.

“City Gym is born of the belief that a gym should be more than just a place to workout, it should be a place to belong.”