Being transgender has nothing to do with sexuality, says fitness trainer Chris Tina Foxx Bruce, formerly Chris Bruce.

“People don't realize: Transgender has nothing to do with sex,” Bruce said in a profile published last Thursday in gay weekly the Dallas Voice. “I've never been attracted to guys, but that's the first assumption people make.”

Bruce transformed her six-foot-one frame from 230 pounds of meaty muscle to a toned 180 pounds in the course of altering her sex.

After her cross-dressing led in part to her 2006 separation from her high school sweetheart, Bruce began in earnest to transition. The couple, who share two children – a boy, 12, and a daughter, 8 – divorced a year later.

She said she's been warmly embraced by the gay community, adding that gay and lesbian venues served as a training ground for her.

“[Transgender people] need the gay area of town for training wheels,” Bruce said.

Bruce said she continues to date women exclusively.

“More girls ask me out now than when I was a man,” she said, then added, “I think women are very open-minded.”