Exodus: Escape From Kentucky

Our family is in profound danger, facing threats that have made our home in Kentucky a place of fear rather than safety.

The threats we’re facing are increasingly direct. We have LGBTQ+ kids, and my husband is a first generation American who is not white.

We've known for a while that the ground beneath us was shifting, but now the state itself is turning against us. My transgender teenage daughter is being directly targeted with assault charges after she defended herself from a homophobic bully. She is also neurodivergent and has PTSD from abuse in the foster care system when we were homeless before. She was receiving much needed support from an IEP at school, and thriving in an innovative academy, where she is doing college level STEM programs —but they ended the IEP, and suddenly she could not use the supports she depended on to thrive at school, and now she is facing truancy charges on top of the assault charges.

Kentucky is letting us down in every way and our family absolutely cannot afford to be homeless again. It has been 7 years we have struggled here in Kentucky to make things work. We were really getting somewhere before this administration came into power. Now things are getting worse so fast that it feels like an apocalypse movie.

We are currently living in a place where our children’s very existence is under attack, simply for being who they are. The anxiety for their safety is a constant, suffocating weight.

Then there's Krishna, my husband, whose very life is under siege. He was denied disability, a decision that left his own doctors — and us — utterly aghast. One of his doctors even made an incredibly rare move, submitting a statement to the judge, detailing Krishna's progressively debilitating condition. This isn't just bureaucracy; this denial will strip away his Medicaid, his lifeline.

Krishna battles spinal stenosis, severe scoliosis, multiple spinal fusions, and severely damaged nerves. On top of that, he's insulin-dependent with a rare, extremely hard-to-manage form of diabetes. When you see the sheer fight for his life against these conditions, compounded by the state's actions, you realize the grim truth: they are trying to kill him.

There is also increasing hostility against brown people in Kentucky, and ICE agents and their ICE imposters are committing acts of violence, and even deporting American citizens for the crime of being brown. Krishna is a first generation American, his mother was from Ireland and his father from India. This administration is threatening now to revoke birthright citizenship, and the state of Kentucky is happy to oblige, or even jump the gun. Krishna has been facing increasing racism in real life since Trump was elected. He finds it difficult just going to the grocery store because of the racial profiling and harassment he has received.

Amidst this relentless darkness, a beacon of hope has appeared in Oregon. Autumn Mist, has offered us sanctuary, a place to land. It's more than just a place to live, which we have been seeking, but not finding for years in Kentucky, it's in a state where disability approval rates are among the nation's best (6th best, compared to Kentucky's dismal 51st, yes they even counted DC). But this journey isn't just about us finding refuge. Autumn's family is also enduring their own intense medical crises one after another, and desperately needs able-bodied help, which we can provide with at least 4 able bodied adults. In return, we gain the crucial space to escape this hostile state and the clutches of our current predatory, slumlord-owned rent trap.

This move is an urgent, shared mission, a race against time. It's an opportunity to fundamentally change many lives in one fell swoop – to bring safety to my children, to give Krishna a fighting chance at life, and to offer crucial support to Autumn's family. To make this vital exodus possible, we are launching a Bonfire T-shirt campaign and this GoFundMe. Every T-shirt purchased and every GoFundMe donation directly fuels our escape to safety and stability.

Please, join us on this vital journey. Your support can truly make the difference between peril and peace.