Features Editor
Gender queer advocate Jacob Tobia spoke at the 8th Annual Gender Matters Symposium to a full house in the Student Union multipurpose room wearing high heels, a pink and purple dress and a beard.
In regards to pronouns, Tobia prefers to be called by “they” over he or she in reference to not being one or the other.
Tobia discussed the gender neutral bathroom problems in North Carolina.
“It’s been a really sort of tough time to be away from home and a tough time living in New York and not in Raleigh [North Carolina] where I sort of feel like I’m needing to be, to be fighting,” said Tobia. “But I’m an adult, I have like a job and stuff so I can’t just go down there and get arrested whenever I want to.”
Tobia made their debut in 2014’s MTV discussion on being transgender with Laverne Cox as part of MTV’s show “The T Word.” And then again in 2015 when their life was documented on MTV’s “True Life: I’m Genderqueer.”
“Were having a national conversation now in a way I think we never had before,” Tobia said.
Tobia clicked through each slide of the PowerPoint giving the audience a sense of their life, upbringing, and what gender should be.
Tobia explained that transgender and gender-queer people are brought up in a world that expects people to be either female or male not allowing room to be anything in between.
In a diagram embedded in Tobia’s PowerPoint, Tobia showed a diagram of a woman and man on two separate islands and a fire separating them to display their differences.
For transgender people, Tobia explained that instead of society trying to put out the fire they force people to go under the fire to get to the other side with a completely transformed look of the opposite gender using Caitlyn Jenner as an example.
However, not everyone is able to afford a sex operation and some trans people prefer not to have a sex change.
Toby said gender is not binary and not a fundamental truth but a spectrum.
“I try to come every year, so I really do love it and I wish that something like this was going on when I was here,” said Teresina Hone who has been to several of the gender matter talks.
Tobia’s confidence lit up the room throughout the presentation and even during questions from students and staff.
“I want to be able to feel free and happy everywhere. I want everyone to be able to feel that,” Tobia said.
