While 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way star Gabriel Paboga has been fending off transphobic attacks, he has also shared much more positive updates on social media.
At least, they’re positive on the surface.
One of his recent posts seemed to drop a major hint about where his story is headed.
We know that they had a lot riding on his coming out to her parents. Did he and Isabel break up?
We’ll talk about what it all means in a moment. But first, let’s talk about the post.
This week, Gabriel Paboga took to his Instagram page to post a short video in which he was lounging in the pool.
He didn’t make any announcements. Instead, he was just soaking up the sun with friends. But there was one little detail that fans noticed.
In the video, Gabe is hanging out with a friend … in Florida.
This season of 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way has supposedly been showing his permanent move to Colombia to live with Isabel.
Does this mean that his coming out didn’t go well or that the relationship otherwise fell through? A breakup would certainly explain a move back home.
From the beginning of the season (and from the trailers before it), we knew that a defining moment for Gabe and Isabel would be his coming out.
He wants to propose to Isabel. Before that, he wants her family’s blessing. And before that, he wants to come out to her parents as transgender.
Some viewers have asked why he needs to come out to them at all. What’s in his pants, or what was once in his pants, is simply no one’s business.
First and foremost, they’re right about Gabe’s gender being no one’s business unless he makes it their business. But he clearly feels like it’s something that he has to share.
It’s unfair, since cisgender folks almost never have to come out as such. But maybe Gabriel wouldn’t feel comfortable with his future in-laws not knowing who he is.
Also, he’s active on social media, where transphobic trolls have attacked him for years. It seems very likely that Gabe feared that these trolls would out him to Isabel’s family. He probably considered this long before joining the show, in fact.
But he and Isabel have had real concerns.
Isabel’s father is a very Christian man. That doesn’t mean that he’s a bigot, but Gabe has noticed that a lot of the the transphobia that he sees uses Christian language and theology.
Isabel does not know how he will react. And if he doesn’t take it well, she’s unsure of the future.
Season 4, Episode 8 showed Gabriel come out to Isabel’s parents.
Because he is an impulsive, fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants kind of guy, Gabe didn’t have a speech prepared.
Instead, he just quickly explained that he is transgender using a voice translation app that he hopes won’t mess up his words.
So, yes, it’s possible that Isabel’s parents reacted with aggressive transphobia. If so, we’ll likely see that on Sunday, on Episode 9.
That said … Gabe is from Florida. He has friends and family in Florida. Of course he’d go back, even if it’s just for a visit.
Also? This is 90 Day Fiance. We have seen other couples who are on The Other Way before moving to another spinoff or to the main series before. Maybe Gabe’s “move” to Colombia was not as permanent as editing suggested.
Life happens, and it doesn’t always fit into the exact premise of a reality show.
We should also note that, though the two have avoided posting direct spoilers, Gabe and Isabel have seemed upbeat and friendly on social media.
Not defensive, not overly formal, not oddly silent, even as the season airs. That usually hints that they’re still together.
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