Stand with Rosa: New City, New Hope

Hello everyone,

My name is Rosa (she/her/hers), or Ms. Rosa within the professional community. I'm a 29-year-old transgender woman and a certified middle school teacher from the Pittsburgh area. Due to recently developing material and mental/emotional needs, and a deeply held desire to start fresh, I have decided to leave Pittsburgh. Due to the surrounding of a supportive network of great friends from my past career, a pleasant living situation within said network, the ability to continue seeing my awesome gender-affirming therapist, and the ability to teach without a need to certify in a different state, Philadelphia will be my landing spot.

Professionally, I have only been a teacher for about a year, so my options to teach here are seriously limited. The school system that I am no longer with is our city's public school system, which many of our public charters also fall under the umbrella of. This separation from my school has seemed to be manifested from dissatisfaction with characteristic traits and attributes exhibited by myself, and many like me. Given the ongoing nature of deeper exploration of "next steps" surrounding said dissatisfaction, that is all that will be said regarding my separation at this time. For obvious reasons, religious institutions are not going to be an option. In a similar vein, I hardly have a prayer of getting into one of the suburban public schools in the Pittsburgh metro area, due to the highly politicized and intersecting nature of my existence (as a trans woman) and my practice (as a teacher). My odds of a fair interview process, onboarding, and employment would only decrease in many other counties in Pennsylvania, making Philadelphia (which is notably more LGBTQIA2S+ friendly) my most viable option at this time for fair and safe long-term employment. Given that I have already had several interviews with schools in Philadelphia that have gone quite well, I am quite confident that I will secure a full-time teaching position before the start of the school year. However, that leaves me without a paycheck until September, at this juncture.

Personally, my expression of my gender identity has led to my family, unequivocally, disowning me. I have not seen any of my immediate or extended family since January. The last engagement took place with my father, in a painfully awkward conversation at a dive bar, plagued ad nauseam by a need to clarify misconceptions (done in futility), including "women are still able to date women" and "women are still able to like sports," after being outed to him by a family member roughly 24 hours before that. My mother offered the loving mother could, calling me: "a fake," "preposterous and gross," "mentally ill," and accusing me of killing my grandmother by coming out as transgender, all while she was "mourning her son." I have been nearly universally blocked by family members on social media and have been excluded from events such as Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, my niece's first birthday, and my cousin's wedding. While the emotional turmoil created by this massive loss has been significant, I do not include this information to make a ploy for sympathy, but to also explain that my options for people within my personal network, at least for material cover, are quite scarce. Even for most of my friends, though they are incredible and have had my back from the time I was a little boy* to now, as a grown woman, they are in places where they are looking to start their own lives and families and plant their own roots. They could definitely use some backup!

Though it is an in-state move, Philadelphia is further from Pittsburgh than cities such as Cleveland, Baltimore, Buffalo, Columbus, Detroit, and Washington DC. To pull off this move, I will certainly need some help, especially as I look to sustain once I get there (I will be taking a bicycle with me, so I will look to use the summertime to Doordash in the day, alongside bartending at night). That said, there will be needs for assistance in both covering final costs of leaving my current living situation, and stabilizing in Philadelphia while I await the beginning of the school year. Any support you could give, in looking to gain safety, security, and stability, while navigating this new life, in a new city, as a transgender woman and a teacher, is so unbelievably appreciated. Thank you all so much for your kindness and support.

Sincerely,

Rosa Elaine

Note from Rosa: All funds over the goal number will be donated to a combination of charities, including: