Hey friends! As many of you know, my partner Ali and myself have gone through a lot trying to build a life together, facing personal hurdles and life-altering chaos, but we've stayed the course - and now we're taking a very important step together in investing in our future: we're getting married! Cue celebratory confetti!

WHY WE NEED YOU:

While we have everything we need to get married on paper and take the leap to join our lives and our households, we need a little help to be able to actually live together in the same country. Currently the only thing standing between us and being able to spend every day together in safety and in the love of each other's arms is a Spousal Sponsorship application. This application would allow me to acquire permanent residency status, which would then allow me to move and live in Canada for at least the next eight years. Once I have that, I can seek citizenship as well. The only issue is the price tag. The fees for Spousal Sponsorship total almost $1300 CAD, which is just under $1000 USD. That is why we have decided to reach out to you - our online support network - for help in closing the gap.

As many of you also know, the United States is becoming a very dark, dangerous, and even life-threatening place to live. It's not safe for queer people, it's not safe for people of color, specifically, and if you belong to both parties, things are... Tense. There is an underlying sense of urgency facing us all right now, both to stand for change, and to seek security and peace and safety for ourselves, and right now, the safest place for me to be as a trans, nonbinary Black person, is in Canada with the love of my life. I have community here. I have family here. I am safe and welcome here, and I have a voice here. Many of you, my peers and friends and online family, you already know how precious and needed that kind of in-person support can be, how life saving. To say this is the first time I've ever been so free and so loved is an understatement.

PRICE BREAKDOWN: Sponsoring a spouse or partner.

Total: $1,290.00 CAD -- Around $945.00 USD

ABOUT US - Our Story:

I'm Sarulien (formerly Sarah), a queer Black genderfluid person. I'm currently working on my Masters degree in Psychology, with an undergrad in Anthropology, hoping to one day get into inclusivity in education, and I'm hustling my way through broke grad student life. I'm from Louisiana but have loved in Texas for several years, and now I'm looking to immigrate to Canada to live with my baby. When I'm not writing papers, I spend my time making art through virtual photography, gaming, and trying to make a difference in the world around me. My partner, Ali, is an art teacher at their local museum, a banquet server and event worker, and an artist of many disciplines, a parent to three wonderful kiddos, and a cat parent to one Sophelia Bodelia, our little gremlin baby (pictures swaddled in a favorite blanket). We are nerds, gamers, drag performers, and multitalented artists, with passions for social justice and activism and preserving queer history.

Ali and I "met" five years ago during the Covid-19 Pandemic. We connected over D&D, and eventually casual chats turned into daily messages and sharing little bits of our lives. We got to know each other through a virtual world called Second Life, a place where anyone can be anything, and where you can literally build worlds or create entire stories with people all living their best lives, without restraint. We never dreamed the stories we would write would eventually become special to us for more than narrative reasons. We were countries apart, with 2,000 miles between us, but love is a mysterious force.

Eventually, feelings began to blossom between us through these intricate stories we would weave together. And, as feelings do, in September of 2021, we began dating long distance, having dates in Discord calls and adventures through the many games we played together. Gradually we began to discuss - with much caution and trepidation - meeting in person, but it was a dream held close to our chests, seemingly unobtainable for some time... But I determined I would do anything I needed to do to make it happen, even if all either of us gained from it was a new friend in person.

By June of 2022, I was on my way to meet them, to celebrate Pride together in person, for the very first time. From the moment we laid eyes on one another in the airport, from the very first chest-to-chest, breathing-the-same-air hug where we fit so perfectly together and everything seemed to just casually fall into place, we knew. We knew we would never be able to be apart again, not for long. Every day we've shared since has just been so naturally easy, so peaceful, so full of love and consideration, it's hard to believe soulmates don't exist and that love is not the greatest force in the universe. We've since shared two Pride celebrations together and are happily awaiting our third one this summer.

Fast forward to October of 2024, during our favorite season, celebrating our favorite month. I had been back in the States for two months, just waiting for my next trip back and spending time with a few people who feel more like soul family than friends, and had finally returned. That very night, my love proposed to me, and asked me to spend the rest of our long and very queer lives together, and like the lovestruck fool I am, I said yes with jubilation, excitement, and much reverence. And now, in 2025 we are here. So very close to the end of our trials. So very close to joining our lives in the way we feel is only so very perfect for us, to establishing security and safety for us both.

According to the Canadian Immigration website, here is what we are facing financially, and what we need help covering. Any additional funds raised will go directly to helping me move across the country and into a new one.

In August, my temporary visa expires and I have to return to the US. Right now, we are trying to have all of this completed and paid for before then. Anything helps. Anything gets us that much closer to our goals, to a new life together. Anything brings us closer to our dreams. Please consider donating whatever you can, or sharing the word of donation isn't possible right now. Thank you so, SO MUCH!

- Ali & Ru, Your Favorite Goth Drag Couple.