“There’s something about her energy, her resilience.”
Dr Ronnie Gladden opened up about their identity during an appearance on Australian radio show The Kyle and Jackie O Show.
The American professor and motivational speaker, who uses they/them pronouns, told the hosts of their journey from young Black man to identifying as transgracial.
“When did you first realise, as a young black man, ‘Oh sh*t. I’m actually a white woman?'” Kyle Sandilands asked Ronnie.
“You wouldn’t believe it if I told you, but I’ll tell you anyway, since you asked me, I was four years old. I’m serious,” Ronnie began.
Kyle responded: “And your family wouldn’t have been on board with that. Surely, they would have been thinking, ‘Little Ronnie’s fantasising here.'”
Ronnie explained that they lived much of their years keeping their identity under wraps, and not even telling their parents.
“I just realised the way that my brain was wired, the mapping of it, didn’t match with the mathematics on the outside. And I’m like, ‘What do I do with that?'” they said.
The Anne Hathaway connection comes as Gladden admires the ‘archetype’ the actress represents.
“So, Anne Hathaway, of course. She’s beautiful, and she can do anything,” Ronnie continued.
“The thing with Anne Hathaway, we know that her partner, as she has said herself, looks a lot like William Shakespeare.
“And of course, we know “Anne Hathaway” was the name, I believe, of one of Shakespeare’s relatives.
“And so, I’ve been in some Shakespearean productions, so I just find it cool that there’s that literary connection. And plus, she’s just gorgeous and just brilliant.”
Radio host Jackie asked: “So, is that more a case of you just admire her and would love to look like her, but don’t identify as her?”
Ronnie explained: “Yeah, I don’t because she’s already taken, right? Isn’t that what Oscar Wilde said? You might as well be yourself because everyone else is taken.
“She’s already taken. But she is kind of this archetype. There’s something about her energy, her resilience… She represents, I think, a great avatar. Her look. Pale skin.”
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Ronnie identifies as transgracial. This means they are both transgender, and identify as transracial.
People who identify as transracial believe that race is a construct, and that you can change race based on how you identify.
One of the most high profile transracial people is Rachel Dolezal, a controversial figure.
The former NAACP leader resigned from her role after her parents said that she was pretending to be Black, but was born white.
In 2019, she described herself as ‘unapologetically Black’, and doubled down on her transracial identity.
She has praised Ronnie Gladden, and said their work ‘encourages us to expand our concept of acceptance and inclusion’.
