Hello! My name is Milo, and this is a photo of me (left) and my spouse, Elliott (right). We are both transgender. We currently live in Iowa, in the USA.

Last year, around August, we decided we wanted to get married. Neither of us is a fancy person; we didn't see the point in waiting and planning a huge affair. We got married in January, at the county courthouse, with our families and friends around us. It was everything we wanted.

Between engagement and marriage, the political reality of our state and this country as a whole changed around us. Iowa removed job and housing protections for trans people. The federal government is targeting anything with even a whiff of "diversity." My mother was vocally worried about whether or not Iowa would let us get married; and, if they did, whether they would let that marriage stand. It has become more and more clear in the months since that being openly trans in the place we live is dangerous.

Luckily, we have something going for us: I'm a Canadian citizen, which means I can sponsor my spouse for residency. We've decided to move back to my hometown of Ottawa, Ontario. We've been there before, visiting my family, and the sense of relief and safety we felt being out of Iowa was palpable.

The issue, as it always is in cases like this, is the financial strain of moving. We both have student loans, we have the last half of a car loan, there's a credit card to pay off. We have bills to pay that mean we can't save nearly enough money to get ourselves out in any reasonable amount of time. And even if we did, we don't have jobs waiting, we'd need to find a place to live, and we'd be surviving on only my income until Elliott got approved to work in Canada. We need help.

Every penny anyone donates will go directly to funding getting us out of the country. That means paying off loans that keep us here, paying immigration fees, paying for the cost of travel and transporting everything we can't bear to get rid of, getting our dog across the border, and keeping us alive until we can find our feet in a new city.

Thank you for your time, reading this. Everyone needs help these days, and we're honored that you took the time to think about us.