Help Rachel Raise Funds for FFS

Hi! We were hoping to talk to you. Yes, you. If you are currently reading this, that means you are a kind, intelligent, and most importantly, compassionate person. And can I say - you look great today? That… clothing item is very flattering.

We wanted to let you know that your friend, Rachel, needs your help in funding her medically necessary Facial Feminization Surgery (FFS).

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Maybe you’ve known Rachel a long time or maybe you’re first meeting her just now. If the latter is the case, then hello! Let us tell you a little about her:

Musician, writer, composer, comedienne, actor, and erstwhile podcast producer, Rachel Rose, was born in upstate New York and received her BFA in Acting from SUNY Fredonia. After a couple years working in regional and local theater, she moved to the perpetually expensive city of Los Angeles where she now resides.

In her ten year tenure within LA, she has been an active member of various queer, comedy, and music communities. She has been blessed with opportunities to perform and also to produce shows creating opportunities for other artists in the process. These spaces have provided her the room to grow and to make valuable and lifelong connections she continues to cherish.

Her passion is creating art that reflects queer and trans themes and finding universality within those experiences. After her concerts, audience members have been known to comment “I laughed and then I got sad” and also “I didn’t know a ukulele could do that.”

If you have the chance to talk to Rachel, you may understand why she is often described as “incredibly silly” and/or “too cerebral.” She is equally satisfied inspiring amusement, emotion, or conversation (also occasionally exhaustion, depending who you ask).

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Rachel has known she is trans her whole life, she just maybe didn’t have the vocabulary to articulate it (and, to be fair, nobody ever asked). Only in recent years has she learned the joy of living authentically, fully sharing her true self with the people around her.

However, accompanying this joy are many uncertainties and hardships. For Rachel, her transness also presents itself as a lack of alignment with her body and inner self resulting in severe dysphoria. This is an incongruity known to have significant and detrimental effects on trans folx causing severe mental, emotional, social, and even financial distress.

Every major medical organization agrees on the necessity of treating dysphoria and, for many trans women, one of the most essential aspects of their gender affirming care is their FFS (Facial Feminization Surgery). Our faces are the first part of ourselves that we present to the world, as well as the first thing that is reflected back to us in the mirror. It is a procedure that is quite often life-saving, greatly improving quality of life and even aiding in providing some basic safety in a society that so often perpetuates violence against trans women.

In this moment in history, there are a lot of difficulties that trans people must face - not least of which is the financial burden of medical transition. Quite frankly, the healthcare system is stacked against trans people. Labyrinthine insurance practices and gatekeeping standards present a seemingly never-ending series of hurdles that can take years for individuals to overcome (if at all). Most importantly, gender affirming care is incredibly costly.

This is compounded by current a cost of living that leaves many LA residents (Rachel included) lucky to just break even in any given month.

Rachel has fought tirelessly over the past two years to receive help from insurance in her transition, but despite all this effort, it is still an immense strain to her finances.

In order to reach her goal of Facial Feminization Surgery in October of 2023, Rachel still needs to raise at least $6,000. (Some she will need to pay in October 2023 and some paid back in early 2024.)

Please consider contributing to her campaign. Any and all donations are immensely appreciated!

Disclaimer: no raffles, sweepstakes, giveaways, or promotions are offered in exchange for any donations made to our GoFundMe.