Support Gwendolyn Marshall's Gender-Affirming Surgery

Hi. I'm Gwendolyn Marshall (she/her). I am a tenured associate professor of philosophy at Florida International University. I am also a transgender woman. Despite having served the Florida university system and thousands of its students, the State of Florida refuses to provide me healthcare related to my transgender identity. That means I have had to pay for my hormone replacement therapy, endocrinologist appointments, and hair removal services all out of pocket, to the tune of thousands of dollars. Like many trans women, I have felt body dysphoria for decades. And ever since I realized my identity and came out as trans in 2021, I have wanted to take steps to make my outsides match my insides, so to speak, but the State of Florida has refused to cover the surgeries that would accomplish this.

So, for the past year and a half, I have worked a second job at Starbucks. I have worked 25-30 hours a week at a physically grueling job, while also working full-time as a professor, in addition to being a single mom of two teen boys. I took the second job at Starbucks because Starbucks health insurance does cover transgender healthcare, including the surgeries I so desperately want and need. And now, finally, after jumping through countless insurance hoops, and waiting on waiting lists for years, and so much more, now the time is approaching for it to happen.

I will travel to San Francisco on September 22nd and have my gender-affirming vaginoplasty (a.k.a. bottom surgery) on September 29th. And Starbucks is paying for the bulk of this. And thank goodness, too, because the surgery and surrounding costs are somewhere in the neighborhood of $70,000! I certainly can't afford that out of pocket! And that is not including the costs of living in San Francisco for the medically mandatory 4 weeks after the surgery. Thanks to Starbucks, this is possible.

But Starbucks doesn't cover everything. For example, they won't cover the cost of food while I'm in San Francisco, or the up-front costs of housing, a rental car, or airfare, though they will reimburse a portion of those expenses after the fact. Starbucks also won't cover the costs to take care of my and my partner's cat while we are in San Francisco—I am required by my surgeon to have a 24/7 caretaker with me the whole time I am there, and my partner is kindly serving as mine. But that means no one is there to take care of Sadie, our ragdoll cat. So we must pay for a cat sitter as well!

Long story short, there are a LOT more expenses around this process than those covered up front by my insurance. I worked almost 2000 hours at Starbucks to get insurance to cover this surgery, and there are STILL so many expenses! So I am coming to you, my friends, supporters, and well-meaning allies, for help.

UPDATE: How funds will be used

Some folks may want more detail on how the funds will be used. Here is an overview of expenses.

Housing in San Francisco

I am renting a friend's apartment in San Francisco for 35 days. We are expecting to pay them at least $1500 for the use of their lovely home, centrally located in San Francisco. The cheapest hotel in the city (and I am required by my surgeon to stay in the city, so I am close to the gender clinic) would cost $2450 for our stay, so I am VERY indebted to them for helping. If I raise more money, I plan to pay them more for such a wonderful gift! Cost: $1500-2500

Travel

Airfare has been taken care of (my parents donated frequent flyer miles!) but we will have to get a rental car while there. My partner will be ferrying me to and from my appointments, getting groceries, etc. We will also have to buy gas while there. A rental car, insurance. and fuel will cost at least $1500.

Food

My partner and I will be in San Francisco for 35 days. We will have access to a kitchen, fortunately, so we can mostly rely on groceries, though I will likely want to eat out a few times. Groceries for two people, in San Francisco, is estimated to be about $800, plus a few restaurants, bringing the food estimate to $1000.

House sitter

We will be away from our home, which includes our beloved cat Sadie and a variety of plants, for 35 days, so we will need folks to spend time there feeding and caring for Sadie, watering the plants, and so on. Estimated costs to pay for someone to stop by for an hour, twice a day, at a rate of $15/hour ($30/day, x 35 days) is $1000.

Medical expenses

I have been working at Starbucks for over a year to qualify for medical coverage that can cover the surgery, but this has required me to (a) pay for additional health insurance deductions from my paycheck and (b) cover the out of pocket maximum of $5300. I also pay $181 per biweekly paycheck, totaling $4706 across 26 pay periods, totally about $10,000. This amount does not include prescription costs for hormone replacement therapy and the post-surgery pain meds and antibiotics I'll need, which I'll omit here.

Totals

Housing: $1500-2500

Travel: $1500

Food: $1000

House sitter: $1000

Medical: $10,000

Total: $16,000 estimated expenses