Hello,

I am Theo, an aspiring artist and game-designer. I am trans and have been trying to access gender affirming care since I was in middle school, and I have found that, despite my best efforts, it is not within my means to get the top surgery I have been trying to receive since puberty, so I have made this campaign to ask for help.

I have known myself to be trans for 8 years. In middle school, I saw the people I know grow separate from me, being treated differently, and I cannot be remotely like them by virtue of being born wrong. I have been trying my best to affirm myself, that I am fine just feeling and accepting myself as a man, but then I would go through school being called the wrong name, being told that I was “a nice girl” by the staff I knew, and still every day I wake up and cannot look or be treated like myself. I go to work and get called “little miss”, “sweetie”, and “girlie”. I settle into a routine of never being happy with myself because I have no other choice. I have wanted to be able to feel and be treated like myself throughout high school and beyond, and have not been financially capable of pursuing any sort of gender affirming care until 3 months ago. While HRT is presently possible, the thousands of dollars needed for top surgery is massively out of my means. Nobody in my family can afford more than keeping their own head above water. I am employed with three jobs in fast food, catering, and bartending, and it is still not possible to afford this surgery without failing to pay for other necessary costs, all the while the possibility of getting the surgery in the future at all is in jeopardy.

As trans people have become more of a political target, executive orders have raised the age requirement to 19 and are strong-arming healthcare and insurance to be more restrictive or even forbid assistance with these surgeries; I do not have insurance that can even remotely cover the cost of surgery. It is not at all out of the question with the trajectory of modern politics that it can become completely impossible to get this surgery in the future if I cannot get it soon.

I am not alone in this type of situation. Trans people have had a target unjustly painted on our back for decades, and it is only getting worse as time goes on. We are being blamed for any possible negative event in the modern day. I go through life terrified that at any point it could become illegal for me to feel comfortable in my own body. My only hope is that this fundraiser can provide some sort of help.