Roses for Thorn - Help a Trans Artist Start Living
Thorn Hawthorne is a disabled transgender photographer and assault survivor. They're also a multi-talented aspiring model and makeup artist, a wonderful friend, and a cornerstone of our small Discord community. As of writing, their birthday is next week. We'd like to give them the best possible gift: helping them finish their transition and heal from trauma.
Thorn recently left their home state of Texas with their cat after experiencing multiple violent transphobic attacks, losing their job and health insurance to the pandemic, then spending weeks living in their car after being kicked out of an abusive household.
Thorn and their cat Lily have been recovering in their new home far away from their abusers since September 2020. However, ongoing trauma, the COVID-19 pandemic, hiring discrimination, and being physically disabled have all made it extremely difficult for them to reopen their photography studio or take makeup clients, which has made survival a constant battle for the past year.
For their physical health, we need help paying for
- Surgery to correct obstructive sleep apnea and reconstruct their previously-broken nose
- 2022 update: TT no longer needs a mobility aid, so we've lowered the goal to reflect this.
In order to complete their transition, they need
- Money to file for a legal name change,
- Money to pay the fees for an updated gender marker, passport, and driver's license,
- Laser hair removal, and
- Gender confirmation surgery
We would also like to help them be able to afford a therapist and hormone replacement until they can get insurance again.
Even with health insurance, the cost of transitioning medically in the United States is extremely high. Major insurance providers consider gender transition to be "cosmetic" and thus "elective" surgeries. The goal is far beyond reach for many, including our dear friend TT. We are urgently in need of help reaching our goal by the end of 2020
[ July 2021 edit: Changed some language from future tense to past tense because the year 2020 has ended. ]
[ January 2022 edit: Lowered fundraising goal ]
