My name is CURIOSCURIO or Cassie. I’m a queer comic artist and nonbinary lesbian currently living in Florida with my parents. I’m trying to raise funds to escape Florida’s increasingly transphobic and anti-LGBTQ laws and move in with some close friends to the sanctuary state of Minnesota.

I’m 26, an nonbinary lesbian, and my pronouns are they/them/she/her. I love butch women and dressing masculine, as it is something that makes me feel happy and confident; even if my high pitched voice and jovial spirit give off a conflicting vibe.

The biggest reason I need to leave is that I currently live with my parents, who support me financially. Living with them and being back in my childhood home has been devastating for my mental health, especially in light of the 2024 election. My depression and anxiety got really bad, and eventually it didn’t even feel worth it to get out of bed. Without going into too much detail about my personal life, all I can say is that I need to seek complex trauma therapy and I can’t begin to heal while still living with my parents.

Slowly, I’ve watched this state change from an ecological paradise into a place I now feel embarrassed to say I came from. Even if one were to excuse the rampant bigotry in our government, Florida is simply not a place I’m able to live in anymore. As an artist, there is very little work for me that’s stable, so I’ve had to work retail part time. Any jobs that I manage to get are often 45 minute drives away, and so defeating that I burn out before the year is up. The job market in Central Florida is flooded with ai garbage as well, and asks for 5 years of experience for an entry position job.

To be frank, I can’t stand to be here any longer. I need help escaping Florida so I can finally have some peace of mind. The stress is killing me, knowing I don’t feel safe enough to ever raise a family of my own in my home state.

I have a place to stay in Minnesota, but still need help settling in. I have no savings and will not be receiving financial support from my parents, but my mental health cannot risk me waiting any longer. In my years online, I’ve spread around other people’s kickstarters and gofundme’s like it was nothing… so it feels pretty unusual being on the other side. Asking for help has never come easy for me, and even setting this gofundme account up caused a knot of guilt to tighten in my chest.

My goal is to earn $6000 to fund my move from Florida to Minnesota. I will also be applying for disability for the first time, and these funds will help me support myself while in the process of that. It’s a lot of hard work to leave everything behind, but the situation has gotten dire. I want to live.