The Menlo community learned about what it is like to be transgender when a Menlo alumni presented at a community meeting. Photo courtesy of Pete Zivkov.

By Kaitlyn Tom 

On Jan. 10 during a community meeting, Menlo alumni Julián Cancino ‘06 shared his experience of being a transgender male.

Cancino’s presentation focused largely on acceptance and the process through which he realized that he was transgender. Cancino’s heartfelt, and sometimes humorous, stories touched students and faculty alike.

Students thought that Cancino’s talk served as an inspiration to students in a similar position to Cancino before he came out. “It’s important for people either closeted or out to be able to look at other members of the Menlo community that have been successful in life and have been able to overcome their obstacles despite whatever differences they may have,” sophomore Sara Hewitt, Gender Equality Matters club president, said.

Other students found that Cancino’s words offered a perspective different from what they’ve heard in their other conversations about gender. “My younger cousin is transgender, and my family and I talk a lot about gender issues. I do think, however, that my perspective changed in regards to gender at Menlo. I think Menlo has a lack of diversity in its students, but it opened my eyes to see an example of someone who has come out and become their true self since getting older and leaving Menlo,” senior Sophia Davirro said.

Additionally, students believe that Cancino’s talk helped broaden Menlo students’ perceptions of gender identity and gender roles. “[Cancino’s talk] showed the prominence of gender roles and how they affect people’s perception of who they are,” junior Atreya Iyer said.

Senior Lauren Chan, co club president of Diversity Club, also thought that Cancino’s talk was eye opening.“My biggest takeaway from [Cancino] was that for some people, gender evolves over time,” Chan said. “I think I’ve previously recognized identifiers like religion and politics to be fluid, and gender and race to be constants. [Cancino] taught me that gender identity is also something that many people consider to be changing over the course of their lives.”

Going forward, Menlo students hope that the topic of gender and LGBTQ+ rights will continue to be discussed in the classroom and beyond. “I think more speakers like [Cancino] could come to Menlo to educate students, as well as possible student-led talks. I also hope there could be a way for more material that focuses on gender studies and LGBTQ+ rights in class like history,” Davirro said.

Hewitt agrees with that sentiment. “I think having speaker like [Cancino] was a really important step. We need people to understand those identities more because there’s a lot of confusion of what it means and how we should speak to them [and] what pronouns to use,” Hewitt said. “We need to be more comfortable asking questions […and] just realizing that they’re normal people too and they’re part of the same community and they’re really no different than we are.”