THE OTHER WAY Gabriel legally became a man 8 years after transitioning
90 Day Fiance: The Other Way’s Gabriel Paboga is the show’s first transgender star. The 32-year-old was born female, but later transitioned to being male, including top and bottom surgery.
“It’s not like you just wake up one day and you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m trans,'” Gabriel recounted during The Other Way’s Season 4 premiere episode. “No, it’s a feeling that you feel your entire life.”
Gabriel revealed that his first public step towards being male happened when he was in kindergarten. “My cousin had a friend that dressed like a boy. Once I found out that girls can wear boy clothes, I started with basketball shorts and I just wore [them] every single day,” he said.
Gabriel turned 16 in 2006, which was well before there was a cultural push for transgender awareness. As a result, Gabriel instead came out as lesbian. “I didn’t know that you can change your gender. I didn’t know anything like that.”
It wasn’t until Gabriel turned 22 that he began to grasp the idea of being transgender after he saw video of another man transitioning. “I knew,” Gabriel recalled in a confessional. “I didn’t have no doubts in my mind.”
Gabriel filed to legally change his name from Natalie to Gabriel in November of 2014. The name change petition was approved the following month.
Is Gabriel legally a man?
In addition to legally having his name changed, Gabriel has also had top and bottom surgery. Despite all of that, having your gender changed legally can still be difficult — especially in a conservative state like Florida.
Is Gabriel legally a man? He answered that question himself with an Instagram post in March of 2021. The post is a photo of Gabriel’s Florida driver’s license, which clearly shows that he is legally a male:
“Don’t hate on my pic, y’all love it,” Gabriel wrote in the photo’s caption. “But look at that ‘M’ standing for MANLY MAN. Y’all peep the ‘M’, according to FL I’m officially male, 8 years later into transitioning, I’m a little late but finally in the club. Better late than never!”
Congratulations to Gabriel! It’s great to see his story on The Other Way, and I have my fingers crossed that we will have another Kenny and Armando type happily ever after for Gabriel and Isabel. To find out if that’s the case, be sure to keep tuning in for new episodes of 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way airing Sunday nights at 9/8c!
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
