My name is JD (any pronouns 24) am a trans person fleeing the south with my transgender husband Nico (he/him 24) and our close friend Aurora (she/they 19) For Nico and I, our financial struggles have been overwhelming since late April of 2024, where right after my surgery was completed and I was still in recovery there were two major floods in our apartment. Due to the severity of the damages we had to deplete our savings to stay in a hotel and much of our expenses (for example: dry cleaning all the towels and clothes used to soak up the water damage) were never reimbursed fully nor on time either. The apartment’s credit card declined during our stay so we had to fork over hundreds of dollars at a hotel to eat aggressively mediocre continental breakfast so I could keep down the prescription painkillers.

Following the damages, the leasing office still demanded a 400-600 rent increase, so we had to relocate to my parents to temporarily rent. Less than 3 months into the living arrangement, my father who’s erratic behavior only escalated following my parents disintegrating marriage (which included my mother calling the police on him in the past for striking her in the face + throwing her down on the ground when they fought), only became more violent. He instigated a fight with my husband and put his hands on him. Though on October 15th 2024 is when we were thrown out when my father put his hands around my throat to grapple me and choke me, Nico grabbed my pepper spray and sprayed him in the face and called 911. When the police arrived my mother already drove him to a separate location to protect him from consequences despite his abuse. Since they kicked us out and my father’s expressed suicidal ideation/threats to destroy our belongings and the house, we fled with our four cats to live at hotels down by the beach for about a month. It was so expensive thousands of dollars were spent just to keep the animals out of the punishing 90 degree humid days in Virginia Beach.

Following being thrown out and going no contact with my parents, me and Nico moved to Kentucky to stay with his mother until we got back on our feet. It’s been difficult with several COVID infections since, but until about three months ago from posting things were improving. Though on March 28th, 2026, my apartment building sustained a fire on the third floor, with me having to alarm Nico and us get our animals along with my mother in laws pets out of the building. Thankfully nobody sustained any lasting damage besides Nico inhaling smoke. The building was not so lucky though, the fire and water damage from the fire hose destroyed almost all of my belongings besides a few electronics and my clothes. Nico’s school laptop got flooded right as he was getting accepted into college this upcoming semester. We had to throw away all of our food due to the water and mold immediately growing in the damp area, and even the measly 600 the Red Cross gave us wasn’t enough with these skyrocketing food prices, let alone new shelter. So my mother in law had to get a more expensive apartment while me and Nico had to spend pretty much all of our money to make up for the disaster since.

Aurora is one of our close friends and she actually lived with us for about six months (spring 2025-fall 2025) following her being abandoned at a hotel on her 18th birthday while her parents continued on their vacation due to her being trans. She has had to live with coworkers and intimate partners who were unsafe who cross boundaries just to have shelter. When she wasn’t being housed she had to camp and avoid the infamous LMPD who are known to traffic and gather up homeless people and take them to jail, which is more concerning for Aurora due to her being mixed and transgender. Despite my transphobic mother in law meddling, we were able to keep her at our residence for half a year before she was basically forced out. So we wanted to make sure she had to the ability to leave KY for her safety considering even now her living situation with her girlfriend is precarious.

Due to the rise of transphobic violence and rhetoric, especially in the Midwest where we are located, we need funds to escape. Me and my husband work full time, but Nico has gotten accepted into various schools in Northern California for biology/environmental science and he needs this for the growth of his education and career, so we need to travel a far ways to get there. If given the funds, Nico, Aurora and I would be able to establish stable housing and hopefully be able to start over and have a chance to actually succeed and not become a tragic statistic. We all know hard work, as Nico even graduated with an associate degree with a 4.0gpa despite having to do his coursework in a hotel, and currently he is working two jobs working every single day. I never shy away from work myself as I also work full time, and Aurora just wants the chance to find work in a more accepting community.

Please consider donating to our fund to ensure our survival and safe trip to the west coast, as we don’t see a future here in northern Kentucky. We will update the campaign as things develop and we get more news.