AuburnVillager.com – By Karen Hunley – The Auburn Villager
As a polymer and fiber engineering professor, Dr. Gwynedd Thomas teaches Auburn University students about the correct composition of protective body armor. In a way, she says, this instruction is a metaphor for the protective yet false shield she carried around most of her life. Until recently, she begrudgingly accepted and portrayed her birth gender-male-so she wouldn’t have to face the social repercussions.
About four years ago, Thomas decided it was worth the risk to be herself.