Meet Ajay Holbrook. He’s a 20-year-old bodybuilder with over 50K Instagram followers. He’s also trans.
Holbrook was recently featured in Men’s Health, where he talked about his experiences. He first came out as trans when he was 13 after he could no longer stand his mother, Holly, taking him to hair appointments and making him wear dresses.
“She grabbed me, and she was like, ‘What are you doing, you’re a girl!’ I looked at her like, ‘What are you talking about?’” Holbrook recalls.
It took some times, but eventually his mother grew to accept Holbrook for who he truly was. When he was a senior in high school, he started taking testosterone. And when he was 18, he began documenting his fitness journey on Instagram and Youtube.
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Now, after two years of rigorous fitness training, Holbrook says he hopes to one day compete on the Mr. Olympia stage, an annual international bodybuilding competition held by the International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness.
In the meantime, he’s working on pursuing a modeling career and growing his Instagram following, as well as serving as a role model for trans youth.
“This community is fragile, and I try my best to instill strength into them,” Holbrook says. “And if being a man means [physical] strength to you, then that’s what it should be.”
Scroll down for some pics from Holbrook’s Instagram page…
mr guy
Maybe Queerty should start a trans site or start posting lesbians too
glennmcbride
The name of the site is “Queerty” no “Gaymanty” – stories of interest to all Queer people.
supernaut
I’m sure there’s a blog out there that’s better suited for you.
Rakkaus
The site may be called “Queerty” possibly implicitly meaning the whole “LGBTQQIA+” community- but mr guy then does have an obvious valid point, where are all the articles geared toward the 50% of the population that are women, including lesbian & bisexual women who make up at least half the queer community? (Plus intersex, non-binary, genderqueer, polyamorous, pansexual, demisexual, asexual, etc.)
Where are the picture book ‘articles’ featuring hot women for all the lesbians to gawk at?
Trans women are more common than trans men-where are the stories of hot attractive trans women?
Glenn gimme a break, Queerty’s articles are ALL geared toward gay men (& maybe bi men), and this one is no different: a young post-op trans man bodybuilder with lots of jacked shirtless pics to post. The Trans angle gave Queerty an excuse to make an article out of a bunch of shirtless pics.
KevInSD
glennmcbride – Only 1-5% of LGB people identify as “queer,” so that’s not much of an audience.
JamJewel
Rakkaus raises a point not often spoken, that in the LBQTxyz community, we are basically talking about sexually…. except when it comes to the “T”. So the unspoken here is, what is on a lot of minds is, is he gay? As a gay person, are you just proffering a piece of meat on which we can only drool, or is this a gay man of interest? If he’s straight, what the hell is he doing on Queerty? Yeah! Kinda like: why are we bombarded with the Benhams when they hate us AND are straight!?
paul dorian lord fredine
saya someone who’s so insecure in his sexuality he needs two male nouns to identify himself.
startenout
Maybe YOU should look fir a gay only site since you’re too phobic fir QUEER
dwes09
Maybe both “mr guy” and “straightnstupid” should try different sites. Perhaps Christian mingle?
Or maybe “breeders only”.
And especially for castleSF (straightnstupid): we don’t need people who clearly never venture outside and don’t interact with other humans telling us who belongs under our political umbrella and who doesn’t. We understand that you don’t really like anybody, and were you not a prude of the worst sort, masturbation would be your only sexual outlet (so you have none I suspect), but please, don’t smear your dysfunction and emotional issues all over this site. They serve nobody and only get you laughed at.
barkomatic
Very hot guy but he must live in the gym!
frankcar1965
He takes Testosterone, you would look like that too.
MacAdvisor
Frankcar1965, I could take nothing BUT testosterone and I wouldn’t look like that.
JK 1984
– Testosterone injections
– being young (easier to get ripped)
– lots of chicken breast on brown rice with broccoli (or similar prepper meal)
– spending more time than I personally consider sane at the gym
Ajay is the result of the above. Nothing to different to any number of dude bros I see at my gym (with the possible exception of the testosterone injections) there everyday lifting weights.
It ain’t for me personally, but if it makes them happy then good for them.
Kangol
Kind of young but WHOA! He’s gorgeous.
KevInSD
so you’re bi.
Kangol
@KevInSD, you say that as if it’s an insult. LOL
I’m secure in my sexuality. Are you?
ethan_hines
@KevInSD The term for someone who is not limited in sexual choice with regard to biological sex, gender, or gender identity is Pansexual not Bi.
mz.sam
Wow…and I thought Laith Ashley was the hottest transman to date, but this this dude is killer epic! Best of luck to his trophy goals.
Rakkaus
Well if Ajay is personally happier living this way, good for him…
But why does a girl have to become a man if she doesn’t like “dresses & hair appointments” but likes “bodybuilding”? There are women athletes/bodybuilders/fitness champions. Not all women like frilly ‘girly’ gender stereotype behavior nor all men like stereotypical ‘manly’ athletic masculine behavior like weight-lifting. Can people ever evolve beyond sexist gender stereotypes? I hope Ajay had more real reason than Queerty is providing…
And how can you say that at age 18 “his mother grew to accept Holbrook for who he truly was” as if it were like mama accepting a gay son coming out as BornThatWay- rather than ma accepting an 18-year-old daughter insisting she hated who she was, hated the way she was born, wanted to undergo years of major surgeries/hormones to transform into someone totally different, become a MAN with a new name/pronouns/whole new identity-and erase any/all memory of the little girl her mama gave birth to & raised…?
To “come out” as Trans is just not comparable at all to coming out as gay/lesbian/bisexual: gays come out as #BornThatWay; Trans come out as #BornTheWrongWay. Coming out as gay is letting family/friends know who you already are & always have been- the secret is out that you happen to desire a same-sex partner instead of opposite-sex. Coming out as Trans is putting family/friends on notice that you are planning to radically transform yourself into a totally different person than the person you were born as, say goodbye to the person everyone knew & loved you as for your whole life- that person is dead.
I’m glad for Ajay Holbrook succeeding in his goals to be a bodybuilder/fitness champion.
Is it possible to drop the general sexist, absurdist, and sexist absurdist lines that somehow manage to creep their way into any article about a Trans person/issue?
justgeo
I just don’t get why so many folks think that to be a man (or hot) they must have nasty ink jabbed into their skin.
startenout
There are plenty of women who have ink, too. And they don’t do it to be a man or to be a woman or to make you happy… They do it for themselves
StraightnNarrow
All the damage the high dose testosterone is going to do to this trans man, liver damage, increased heart attack, among other illnesses. It’s just unnatural if we are truly being honest with this situation.
frankcar1965
Oh you mean like men in general, we all have increases chances of getting those illnesses just for being a man.
linniejr
StraightnNarrow, I hear what you are saying, but in the long run, we don’t have to like it, but let’s not knock the one who did it. They have to live THEIR LIFE, and we ours.
dwes09
Actually, if we were to be truly honest, we’d simply say you don’t have a clue what you are talking about. Your imagination has no effect on the world outside your little room.
And your kind also says that being homosexual is unnatural.
We say, do real people a favor and bow out…go away.
Unless of course you enjoy being laughed at.
Chrisk
I see in a few of the pics he’s wearing a prosthetic. That kind of ruins it for me.
Hussain-TheCanadian
@KevInSD – So you look at these pictures and see a woman?
Black Pegasus
He’s beautiful. Hope he’s happy.
linniejr
Rakkaus,
In defense of this publication and the person to whom you addressed your comments to, Glenn, I have to say, that although I am not online to read queerty, the times that I have and do read, I have seen some articles that featured gay women as well as some men who trans’ed to female. Yes it has been few and far between, but there have been some.
Next your statement “But why does a girl have to become a man if she doesn’t like “dresses & hair appointments” but likes “bodybuilding”? There are women athletes/bodybuilders/fitness champions. Not all women like frilly ‘girly’ gender stereotype behavior nor all men like stereotypical ‘manly’ athletic masculine behavior like weight-lifting.” To answer that, not all girls who don’t like dresses become men or hair appointments, overall this was this person’s choice. The person to whom this article is about, no one said that he was forced, he stated that’s how he felt, and who are we to question it? I don’t think we should say what’s harder coming out as gay or coming out as wanting to change our sex. Just like those of us who come out as gay, trans persons have no easy time of making that decision. Just as us they think long and hard about the consequences of their actions. Also think about this, your statement “To “come out” as Trans is just not comparable at all to coming out as gay/lesbian/bisexual: gays come out as #BornThatWay; Trans come out as #BornTheWrongWay” is the same thing blacks say about me as a gay black man, why should I compare the civil rights movement to wanting gay rights, blacks can’t help the color they born, gays can. No I can’t choose my color, but I can choose to live the way I was meant to. The same applies to our trans brothers and sisters.
Elf92
Good point. I agree. We should just accept the person true self in identifying themselves. Each person will have to live their own truth.
linniejr
I’m sorry, but it just bothers me that we as LGBTQ persons are having a discussion of this nature instead of just being supportive of those who have taken this step. Let’s think about how many of us felt when we came out, and had no support. Then we are fighting about little things such as this, when this current administration is doing all that it can do to roll back our rights as blacks, women, gay, it doesn’t matter. Instead of carrying on with each other, how many of us are registered voters? We need to be more unified in protecting our own, as opposed to attacking our own. Queerty, keep up the good work. Publications like yours didn’t exist when I came out, Thanks for what you do.
Kangol
Great replies, both of them. Thank you!
StraightnNarrow
As long as you continue to believe the myth that there is a gay community, you’ll never get the answer right. There is a gay world where there is little in common among its members. There are liberal gays who can’t stand conservative gays who in turn hold liberal gays in contempt. There are decent hard working gays in respectable and committed relationships and those who continue to promote promiscuous lifestyles and anonymous hookups.. Those who take responsibility for their choices in life and those who blame everything and everyone for their own misery. I personally respect transgender people but I don’t see them as part of the gay world and they have done little to contribute to the gay causes.
ethan_hines
@StraightnNarrow : ” I personally respect transgender people but I don’t see them as part of the gay world and they have done little to contribute to the gay causes” so in other words all the Transpeople that fought for equal rights during the Stonewall Riots in New York City in the 1960’s stood for nothing??
WillParkinson
Thank you, Ethan!
dwes09
From Straighn/castlesf:
“It’s just unnatural if we are truly being honest with this situation.”
So when you say you respect transgender people, you lie. Your inability to tell your imagination and biases from the actual world outside is stunning.
Just how stupid are you?
How far removed from reality?
dwes09
Also to “castlesfnnarrow”:
You drip hypocrisy like a dog drips spittle.
We see and read comments and can reference old ones. You’re like Trump’s ambassador to the Netherlands who denied saying things captured on video just a minute before. The stupid and regressive always assume the same stupidity in others.
Robothedestroyer
@StraightnNarrow
When the Stonewall riots happened, it was lead by a number of drag queens. I am willing to put money down that those queens where really trans females who could not transition the way you can today because of the time. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.
spacecadet
You wouldn’t even know he was born a woman unless he told you, so no, a gay man being physically attracted to him does not all of the sudden make the gay man bi.
spacecadet
No offense, but no one cares.
StraightnNarrow
I have to disagree with you on this, Kevin. Most gay men are not just attracted to a male physique; they are also attracted to a male oriented energy which is usually associated with masculine behaviors, masculine demeanor, and masculine sexual preferences. So Kangol can look at this trans man and find him attractive because this trans man vibrates a male energy. That attraction doesn’t make Kangol bi at all. Based on all the men featured on this web site that he finds attractive, I seriously doubt that he is bi. but that’s his business.
iltman
I’m not going to comment on some of the comments posted here in just going to say he’s a very attractive man
WillParkinson
And you’re still an ass, no matter what you might think.
JH0607
I cannot call anyone a man who has a clit in his/her pants. It just grosses me out.
Kangol
Then that’s on you, not him. Do clitorises gross you out? Do vulvas? Do transmen who haven’t undergone genital reassignment surgery gross you out, because many have not? Do transwomen who haven’t undergone GRS gross you out?
JH0607
Clitorises and vulvas on women do not gross me out.
As for the others…Yes. and Yes.
Lacuevaman
this is not intended to cheeky comment, but if there ever was a man that should have a nice dick hanging twixt his legs, its this guy
JH0607
I agree with KevinSD…someone with a clit and ovaries pretending to be a guy is just a turn-off…and frankly kinda sickening. It can pretend to be male, but it ain’t.
Prax07
@Kangol Yes. Gross. Very.
dwes09
And you are a tiny minded little twit.
The world is more varied and complex than the regressive mind can tolerate. But your inability to understand or to extend empathy does not change reality.
Never has, never will.
All through history there have been a few people who have successfully lived their lives passing as the gender other than they were born into. That speaks to the reality of gender dysphoria/transgender people. What bubbles up from your mean spirit and infantile imagination does not.
maxpsfund
Just because you want to be something different than what you are, doesn’t make it so! His DNA will be female no matter what. And calling people names is not going to change minds – smart educational program may. I feel for people born to the wrong body and they have every right to change to what makes them happy! I think a really good education program will do more for their acceptance than anything else. Unfortunately, it takes time for education to take effect and hopefully, the world will change in a positive way. When people are shown a personal view of one’s life this is what makes them human and this is what changes minds. I believe this is a much better system than to attack someone viewpoint that you don’t like. Attack only closes doors. My 2 cents.
Luna1979
From the comments here I learned 2 things: 1. “You will never understand what it’s like to be trans, and your attempts are offensive.”
2. “Why can’t you be open minded enough to understand what it’s like to be trans, you jerk?”
If i say I don’t care, I’ll be called insensitive. If i say he’s not what turns me on, then I suddenly have deep-rooted sexual issues and require a therapist.
Generally, talking against this guy or questioning him in any way is like asking a priest to explain the Trinity one more time because you still just don’t get it. Never question God or Trans.
Robothedestroyer
I… I can’t beleive on an LGBTQ+ website I am reading this. People are entitled to their opinion but your acting just like those who oppose us as gay men. I think he’s hot, and yes I said he and mean it NOT only because it is this person’s prefered pronoun, but because he is a he just his body didn’t get the memo so he took it upon himself to make his body match how he feels. Although it has not been proven, yet, science is starting to understand how this mismatch happens in the brain/body and it is becoming more and more apperant that in trans people the brain literally develops as that of the gender opposite of the body. In this case, a literal male brain in a female body.
What really upsets me, is you, and others trying to question people’s sexuality for being attracted to him.
That’s asinine!
You do know a trans man who is attracted to men, either trans or cis is considered gay, right? I am a gold star gay dude. Very far on the homo end of the Kinsey scale,(not absolute mind you, but pretty far in that direction) and would not think twice about having sex with a trans man I thought was attractive. I would not shy away from his genatles either. You know, I have been with men with both large and small penises, men with one testicle, men with no testicles, cut, uncut… you get the point. However all thise variants on male genitalia do not make them less than a man. Being a man starts in your brain, and is displayed in your actions. Your d!ck is just the ribbon around the box and the fact that anyone is that hyper focused on such an unimportant body part completely bewilders me. You do know that male and female privets are the same parts just rearranged right? Ovaries are testicles, the clit is really the same organ as the penis? Some things work different, and have to so babies can be a thing, but if it looks like a duck and quacks like one to…
When I look for things that make a man attractive, even physical things, so many other things factor into it. Smile, face, smell, hairiness, assertiveness, stance, expressiveness, ass, the list goes on. Ajay has a hot little bod, and those pecs, omg! I’m not huge into muscles but I absolutely can see why GAY men and STRAIGHT woman would go nuts for him.
Sorry for the length, but in conclusion you are being a bigot and really need to reevaluate your actions next time you’re going to be so insensitive to a group of people who, like it or not, have a lot in common with you and your struggles. Trans people have enough to deal with with out queer people like you throwing the same BS at them that anti LGBTQ+ straight people do.
/RANT