
Help Jess & Kate move and cover bills
My name is Jessica, and I am a half Thai trans woman. Last year, I moved back to the US to be with Kate, my friend come trans sister come girlfriend come wife. Kate was forced out from her job in November, and neither of us have been able to find stable employment since then. Kind friends in-state have given us options for where to live without going bankrupt to line a landlord's pocket, but we can't break our current lease and start canceling utilities and other bills until we can afford to actually move.
All donations will go towards bills, medicine, rent, gas, and any equipment or vehicle rentals we might need to get relocated.
Any donations are appreciated, and so are any shares or retweets or what have you.
Thank you,
Jess
From Kate:
So here we are again...
To recap, I have lost my job. As if this wasn’t bad enough we are in the midst of a pandemic with hiring being difficult to come by.
To be absolutely clear I did not choose to leave my job. Being a transgender employee has cost me two separate positions throughout my career, both times because of management that simply did not give a shit about protecting me. It was made clear that my identity disqualified me from my position, and no matter how much I
worked (to the point of mental and emotional exhaustion) nothing would fix that.
After being shoved out of a job (twice), going broke (twice) and not being able to put a roof over my head or food on the table (twice), I am at the point of being mentally and emotionally unable to even think about working right now. My career has successfully broken me.
I have been brought down sobbing at the *thought* of going into job interviews. I have just stared at job postings for, completely paralyzed. I have been having nightmares about my old jobs. Momentary thoughts of past employers have been viscerally triggering. I have come to the point of uncertainty whether I even
want to continue in my field or what I would do otherwise. I am lost and broken, plain and simple.
My resume has spun into the toilet since I transitioned, with noticeable gaps and employment instability. While I have no desire to go into specifics, I am a known figure in my field and it is going to be difficult to find an employer who will “take a chance” with me. I am not certain I even have a career anymore.
I have had colleagues whom I have known for years turn their back on me since I transitioned. I have been told by places I worked for in the past that I was unwelcome and not to bother applying for open positions.
Unsurprisingly, there are bills to pay. Even beyond the standard ones, there are medical costs associated with being transgender. I have bills I cannot pay. Me and my wife have prescriptions that we are increasingly unable to afford.
Even the “unskilled” jobs come with risk. A pandemic makes everything more complicated. Being trans makes us less likely to be hired. Having a trend of employment instability does the same.
And, of course, I have a wife now. I have someone I can no longer support. I have someone else I feel as if I have let down. We’re in the process of moving out of yet another place I was hoping to call home. We’re uprooting ourselves and leaving a life behind, with no guarantee of what the future holds.
We talk about the transgender/poverty connection as if it’s just some sort of mystery or misfortune, but it really isn’t. The deck is intentionally stacked against us from the beginning. There is a reason why we are forced out of society, and that reason is plainly bigotry.
There is a reason why trans people have a higher incidence of mental illness and that is frankly because for many of us, trauma is part and parcel of the trans experience. We are inherently excluded from society and that process leaves deep scars.
So... we again have to ask for help. We again have to beg for charity as the world at large has none. I know these are trying times for all of us, but every bit helps. I can’t give any guarantees for what the future looks like for us, but if we have enough to survive one more day, one more month, we will treat it as a victory.
Thank you for reading and your kindness.
-Kate