<div class="youtube-replace"><strong><em>IF YOUR NAME IS DIFFERENT FROM YOUR BILLING NAME:</em></strong> please leave a comment with your donation that says your proper name, so that we can thank you (GoFundMe only shows us your billing name in notifications, and we don’t want to deadname anyone!)
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<div><strong>Our current reality: We’re Trystan (artist name: Azrai) &amp; Lou, </strong>the queer artist duo behind StarWhispers, Asunderland, and now:<em> Escape to The Last Threshold. </em>Unsafe housing, immigration uncertainty, and medical malpractice have trapped us deep in survival mode. Until recently, we were living full time in Airbnbs.
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<div>Right now we are in the process of applying for Canadian citizenship by descent, which will provide a huge amount of relief and healthcare. This will also allow me to work- as <strong>I am legally prohibited from working in Canada until this immigration goal is completed.</strong> We are also pursuing justice for the medical malpractice and improper eviction, which will help us regain financial stability. <strong>We are currently in safe, temporary housing until around November 2026 and need to secure:</strong>
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<li><strong>Urgent medical care</strong>
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<li>Daily living expenses (Food, coffee, toothpaste)
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<li><strong>Long-term housing, even non-traditional options like an RV</strong>
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<li><strong>Legal assistance for immigration and dental malpractice cases</strong>
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<div>As transgender immigrants, we face barriers that make the impact of these setbacks hit much harder than they should.
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</div><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/93830837_1755732310649404_r.png" width="100%" />
<div><em>Above: The mold-riddled basement, AKA, A portal to the Upside Down in our Montreal rental of 2 years. </em>
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<div><strong><em>Chapter 1 – </em>$26,000 CAD- COMPLETED ☑️</strong>
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<div>This goal covered escape from the Moldlord's rental, a storage unit to save our belongings, bnbs to survive eviction, urgent medical bills, and introductory legal costs tied to malpractice.
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<div><strong><em>Chapter 2 – </em>$102,000 CAD grand total</strong>
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<div>This goal covers the full mid-term medical and legal costs, as well as and the purchase / refurbishment of an RV for interim safe housing. <strong>This amount gets us healthy, immigrated and out of temporary housing so we can build our bigger dream.</strong>
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<div><strong>Directly, this GoFundMe covers costs like:</strong>
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<li>Monthly costs such as our storage unit keeping our belongings safe, groceries, uninsured medications, car insurance and maintenance, keeping our artwork and business online.
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<li>$3,500.00 medical debt
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<li>$17,000.00 in immigration legal fees
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<li>$7-10,000.00 in malpractice legal fees
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<li>$15,000.00 in emergency malpractice-related costs (emergency dental work, hospital visits, surgery to remove the dental spike)
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<li>$15-35k to purchased a move-in ready, used RV.
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<li>$30-50k overall remodel of camper/RV for sustainable living
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<div><strong><em>A few more details:</em></strong>
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<div>Costs we had no way of predicting have piled up to a point that we cannot unbury ourselves, such as rapidly changing Canadian immigration requirements. Landlords have repeatedly demanded a deposit of over $14,000.00 (6+ months of rent) upfront, illegally, because of our immigrant status and lack of Canadian credit history- regardless of proof of income. <em>(We are in a poor position to negotiate or enforce our rights as we have been turned away from even viewing properties due to our immigrant status, and landlords are known to look up tribunal/legal records of prospective tenants.) </em>Because of this, <strong>our goal is to live full-time in a mobile home until we can purchase a property of our own. </strong>
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<div>A dentist gave Trystan extensive dental injuries shortly after arriving in Canada. These have severely impacted his ability to work- work which his immigration depends upon entirely. These injuries frequently cost thousands of dollars in treatments in order to avoid relapse of potentially life threatening infections, and will cost tens of thousands more to fully repair. We are barred from healthcare access for a prolonged period due to these immigration setbacks, keeping costs of even our daily medications for ADHD and our hormone therapy in the hundreds per month. These are just a few pieces of the pileup.
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</div><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/93830837_1755924047599802_r.png" width="100%" />
<div><em>Above: medical imaging of a section of Trystan's teeth with several areas circled in red, and text that reads: "various emergencies- all from things like "Defective restorations!" Note: Some of these pictured restorations have already been re-treated, however these defective restorations span Trystan's entire mouth. And the "sinus spike," pictured below, was embedded in his maxillary sinuses from the ordeal.)</em>
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<div>Being able to make it through this rough patch and pay the associated legal costs opens much needed doors for us.
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<div><strong>This is the foundation that allows us to begin what we’re really working toward:</strong> a permanent refuge and community art space, wherever we're able to build it, documented and shared through our show. That's the <em>next</em> chapter for us.
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</div><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/93830837_1755752400917129_r.png" width="100%" />
<div><em>Above: Garden Founder's Stone Concept by Trystan</em>
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<div><strong>Every gifter will be represented by a founder’s rune in this space: </strong>your name and/or a rune of your choice, carved, burned, or sculpted into a real physical spot on the refuge itself. A sculpture in the garden, stones in the walking paths, or wooden fences at our threshold. <strong>Your rune becomes part of the story, visible to everyone who crosses it.</strong>
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<div><strong>More information about us, and our work, can be found on our website; <a href="https://www.starwhispers.co/thelastthreshold.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">StarWhispers</a></strong>
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Hope Stauffer

Marjo Soini

Lindy Cushnic

Naomi Thomas

Sarah Daniel

Anonymous

Jasper Perkins

Gray Wood

Regan Flavelle

Monica Colon

Julia Alaethia Berry

krista wallace

Elena P Hamann

Elise Siegrist

Julia Morog

Freya Wieduwilt

Samuel Poots

Help Queer Artists Trystan & Lou Secure Safe Housing

Just $865$ to go! Make an impact.

Help Queer Artists Trystan & Lou Secure Safe Housing

Just $865 to go!
Make an impact.