I'm hosting this for a friend who needs to stay anonymous for safety reasons.

A 6-year-old transgender girl, her siblings, and her mother are trapped in Texas and need your help to stay safe.

Due to complications from an ongoing custody battle centering on this little girl’s own identity, “Zoe” and her family have lost their home, their car, and now face losing their right to exist in peace as a family at all.

These circumstances have taken a devastating toll on the whole family’s health, both mentally and physically. Struggling to get on their feet after losing the place they’ve called home since Zoe was a baby, the family has been relying on the hospitality of loved ones while their mom juggles full-time parenthood alongside moving out of their home and trying to find work in a new city.

The dangers of Zoe’s circumstances are compounded by the mounting pressure of 140 anti-LGBTQI+ bills in her home state’s House and Senate.

That’s right, there are currently 140 bills (some of which are being voted on right now) waiting to be passed along to Texas Governor Greg Abbott to be signed into law. A significant share of this legislation expressly targets trans children, their families, and their healthcare providers.

Several of these bills seek to make taking Zoe to a mental healthcare provider, or taking her to a medical doctor for life-saving care, a criminal offense under the “Family Violence” section of the Texas Family Code.

Last year, 6-year-old Zoe and her siblings submitted their testimony to be read into the record during a DFPS Hearing on the rights of trans children in Texas.

This is what Zoe had to say to the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) as panel members reviewed Governor Abbott’s directive to remove trans children from their family homes:

“I love my mom, and I’m waiting for my hair to be very long so I can make it be longer than Rapunzel’s. The best way to protect kids is to let them be trans or not, whatever they want to be. I’m trans. And that’s all.”

The stakes have never been higher for Zoe’s safety, so this is the moment that she and her family most need resources and support. And for that? Zoe and her family need you.

We need your help to raise $6,000.

This money will enable Zoe’s family to pay for legal representation in family court and will help them with the expenses of relocating to Austin.

Why Austin?

Because, in 2022, Austin’s mayor declared the city a sanctuary for transgender children. On the same day, the Travis County District Attorney also vowed to refuse to prosecute families of trans kids falling under unconstitutional, anti-trans persecution by the state.

Zoe’s family also has friends and loved ones in Austin who will be in a better position to offer support in the event that things get worse before they get better.

For as long as they are confined to the state of Texas, the family believes Austin will be the safest place for Zoe.

Your donation will help Zoe’s family safely settle into their new home, provide them with some breathing room for groceries and gas for the car, and make sure they have enough money in the bank to provide sufficient legal representation for the weeks and months ahead.

Please donate (if you can) and share this link on your socials.

Whether you’re able to contribute financially or not, I’d like to ask you to think of anyone you may know who could share what they have to help Zoe get safe…and then send this link to them and ask them to do it.

Zoe and her family can’t do this alone, but we can help them. We just really need to do it now.