The organizers of an arm wrestling event on College Street that’s been growing in popularity are providing entertainment for a demographic they feel is underserved.
Called Straps, the function brings locals from the queer community together for an evening of friendly competition and music at Houndstooth — with an emphasis on transgender participation.
Before they began hosting the muscly festivities last March, organizers Rhys Alden and Layah Glassman — both of whom are trans — felt there wasn’t enough variety when it came to entertainment options and social spaces within their community.
Alden, who is originally from London, England, told TorontoToday they wanted to change that.
“There’s a really good variety of trans events in London, whereas Toronto is a bit more limited,” they said. “It’s mostly drag shows and raves here — which are both fine — but we wanted to do something that was participatory and could also involve people drinking and hanging out.”
Glassman used to compete for their school’s grappling and wrestling scene, while Alden enjoys watching professional arm wrestling on television.
The two were inspired to create Straps earlier this year thanks to a popular trans arm wrestling event that takes place in London. They’ve since hosted four successful competitions in the west end with their next one taking place on Thursday.
“Every one of them has been packed — it’s really exploded,” Alden said. “When we announce the event, we put the sign-up link in the bio, and it usually fills within 24 hours. Everyone comes by to watch their friends or just to hang out — it’s great.”
The duo’s local spin on queer arm wrestling is divided into three strength classes: noodles, mids and muscle Marys.
Eight people in each class go head-to-head until one participant is left standing.
“The matches are over pretty quick until the final stages where people are more evenly matched,” Alden said. “We have options when there’s a stalemate and we have DJs there as well so people can stay and hang out afterwards.”
Houndstooth opens at 7 p.m. this Thursday and matches begin at 7:45 p.m — queer standard time, according to the event website.
There is no entry fee, which was a priority for the organizers in their vision for Straps.
“We wanted to make sure the event was free,” Alden said. “People in the trans demographic tend to not be very well off. A lot of queer activities cost quite a bit of money as well. Houndstooth doesn’t charge us to use the space, they just take whatever people pay for drinks.”
