Beacher Lev Goldberg’s swim across Lake Huron to raise funds for LGBT Youth Line
By JULIA SAWICKI
Less than two years after returning to swimming, Beacher Lev Goldberg became the first openly transgender person to swim across Lake Ontario.
The 50-kilometre crossing from Niagara on the Lake to Toronto last September took 24 hours, 25 minutes and 15 seconds. Now, Goldberg has set his sights on an even bigger challenge: crossing Lake Huron this August.
For most people, the idea of swimming across one of the Great Lakes sounds impossible. For Goldberg, it became his goal as soon as he returned to the water.
After quitting swimming at age nine, Goldberg stayed out of the pool for nearly two decades. He describes his younger self as uncomfortable in the water, struggling with exercise induced asthma, and although he didn’t have the term for it yet, gender dysphoria.
But at 27, what began as cross-training for running quickly evolved into a passion for swimming, reconnecting him with a sport he had left behind years earlier.
Goldberg returned to the pool in January 2023, rebuilding the skills he had learned as a child through self-teaching and countless hours in the water.
He soon discovered open-water swimming and the close-knit community surrounding it. Within weeks, he had compiled a list of open water swims he wanted to complete. By the summer, he had finished his first 2.5-kilometre open water swim. He later joined a queer and trans focused swim team, where he met his coach, Tai Hollingberry, and told them about his goal.
“I want to swim across Lake Ontario, and I want to be the first trans person to do that,” said Goldberg. “They told me, ‘Yeah, absolutely you can do that. Let’s start working together.’”
Last year, Goldberg completed a 20-week training block with Hollingberry and swim manager Jane Anderson, both of whom he credits as major supporters throughout his journey.
Over time, he built up his technique, tolerance and consistency, meeting the marathon requirement of swimming 16 kilometres in six hours set by Solo Swims Ontario.
He focused on low intensity for longer intervals, prioritizing aerobics and mental fortitude. Preparing a marathon swim requires maintaining a consistent pace for hours; food breaks every 30 minutes, and adapting to changing water conditions including cold temperatures.
For Goldberg, however, the cold is one of the easier parts. “See, I’m so lucky because I love it,” he laughed “People will be like, ‘You’re so tough and strong,’ and I’m like, ‘No, no, I just like it and I just kind of only do things I like.’”
Despite his natural affinity for cold water, he still works to maintain that tolerance, especially when swimming through large bodies of water prone to sudden cold patches. After successfully crossing Lake Ontario, Goldberg moved to the Beach neighbourhood in February to be closer to the water and his training routes.
His next challenge, a 55-kilometre swim across Lake Huron, will be his longest distance yet. To prepare, he has increased both his pool and open water training, building toward the physical and mental demands of another Great Lake.
Goldberg credited legendary marathon swimmers Marylin Bell, Kim Lumsden and Vicky Keith for inspiring his ambition to swim across Lake Ontario, and the other Great Lakes. Reading about their stories and triumphs sparked an obsession.
“I became possessed with the idea, and I was fixated on it really a couple of months after I started swimming at all,” he said.
Beyond the athletic feat, Goldberg said one of the most meaningful parts of the experience has been serving as a visible representative for queer and trans athletes.
“I think I was really motivated when I realized there were no openly trans people in that space,” he said. “That’s surprising, but also not that surprising, because of all the barriers that keep trans people out of sports.”
“Especially something like swimming, where you’re partially clothed and you have to navigate the gendered spaces of locker rooms or races. I’m binary, and I feel comfortable entering the men’s category. But a lot of people don’t have that level of comfort, and there’s no category for them.”
The response from the community has reinforced the importance of that visibility.
“I heard from a lot of people, especially trans youth, saying, ‘It means a lot to me to see you doing this.’ And for me to just accept that is meaningful. People want to support that and see that happen because it means something to them,” said Goldberg.
The swim is also serving a larger purpose. Goldberg is raising funds for LGBT Youth Line, an organization that provides resources, advocacy and anonymous peer support for 2SLGBTQ+ youth across Ontario.
The cause is personal. After coming out in 2016, Goldberg volunteered with the organization, a period he credits with helping form his career as a therapist, primarily working with queer and trans youth.
“They train LGBT youth to be peer-support volunteers for other LGBT youth who are reaching out, looking to talk to people with lived experiences,” he said. “It’s valuable for the youth who are reaching out, who need support, especially at a time where it’s really hard to be a queer youth and a trans youth.”
Last year, Goldberg’s Lake Ontario swim raised $7,000 for LGBT Youth Line. This year, he hopes to match or exceed that total. His training is entirely self-funded; but Goldberg is crowdfunding the marathon swim on Go Fund Me to cover costs and maximize the amount donated to LGBT Youth Line.
As part of the fundraising, Goldberg will host a screening of The Impossible Swim at Beach United Church on Saturday, June 13, at 4:30 p.m. The documentary follows Maya Farrell’s attempt to swim across Lake Ontario at age 16. Farrell will attend the screening to share her perspective on the experience, along with filmmaker Larry Weinstein.
Beach United Church is located at 140 Wineva Ave. To reigster for the June 13 screening, or to suppor the upcoming swim across lake Huron, please visit https://levswimslakes.ca/fundraising-event-june-13/
To support or learn more about LGBT Youth Line, visit https://www.youthline.ca/
