Resettle a Disabled Trans Refugee Family

We are Aspyn and Mara (both they/them), and we are disabked nonbinary trans refugees fleeing Trump and MAGA fascism in the US.

We are a married couple who have been trying to find somewhere safe to live for some time now. In the last 5 years, we have moved 5 times, trying to find somewhere we could exist. Everywhere we moved, we faced violent transphobia, discrimination, and persecution. With the resurgence of the MAGA regime, our existence as nonbinary trans people is being criminalized at a national level, removing any internal flight alternatives.

So, in March of 2025, we packed our car and drove to Canada, where we have filed a refugee claim. All of our meager savings have been used up just getting to relative safety, and we are now living out of our car with our dog, Autumn. We have no money for housing, and work permits are still several months from being issued.

We desperately need help getting settled and back on our feet. We are asking for a crowdfunded sponsorship of our resettlement in Canada (1 year of living expenses) while our claim is considered and we find our footing. The cost for this is calculated by the Canadian federal government as CA$19,500, plus CA$5,100 for startup expenses, such as rental and utility deposits.

We have very little to our name, and are already behind on car payments, the one thing keeping us from being on foot and fully sleeping rough. Resettlement services and shelters are all overwhelmed and full. We have no family here, nor do we have more than a couple of friends who we have made since being here. We are, more or less, on our own.

The violence we have experienced has taken its toll on us, leaving us disabled to various extents. Mara has a head injury from a homophobic and transphobic attack several years ago, and Aspyn has decade-old complications from GRS which leaves them physically limited. These disabilities create additional hurdles to our ability to settle in.

Return to the states is not an option for us, as the X gender markers on our documents put us at significantly elevated risk of detention by border agencies. The Trump administration continues to send American citizens to foreign labor camps with no due process. Our existence is increasingly criminalized, with more and more new laws being introduced and voted on and passed which keep us from being able to exist in society. We cannot go back.

We are asking for help, because we have nothing else and nowhere else to turn. Thank you for your time, labor, and generosity.

"It is our duty to fight for our freedom.

It is our duty to win.

We must love and protect one another.

We have nothing to lose but our chains."

Assata Shakur