From Fleeing to Fighting for a Future: A Trans Asylum Journey
Kia ora, everybody! I’m Rochelle — better known to thousands online as Your Favorite Transbian Auntie. I’m a neurodivergent transgender lesbian, and a visible, outspoken professional social media personality. My work has always been rooted in building joy, solidarity, and community for LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent people.
That visibility, however, made me a target in the United States — a country where trans rights are under relentless attack, and where my safety could no longer be guaranteed. I made the hardest decision of my life: to leave everything I knew behind and seek asylum in New Zealand, a country that literally enshrines gender non-conforming people in their Bill of Rights.
Now, I’m here, determined to make history. As far as I know, only ONE person has ever been granted asylum here FROM the United States. I hope to open roads for others like me, to create safety and representation where there is none — but I can’t do it alone.
My Story:
Back in the U.S., I built my career by creating content that celebrated queer joy, neurodivergent creativity, and unapologetic leftist identity. Through my pages (Your Favorite Transbian Auntie, Auntie’s Overstock Meme Emporium, and more), I reach millions of people every month, proving that trans and neurodivergent lives are not just valid, they’re vibrant.
But visibility comes with risk. As anti-trans rhetoric and legislation escalated, the danger to me became undeniable. My platform and identity painted a target on my back. My wife was terrified for my safety every time I left the house.
Fleeing was not optional. It was survival.
Now in Aotearoa New Zealand, I’m navigating the long and costly asylum process. While I work to establish my life here and continue my online work, I’m facing steep expenses: rent, groceries, filing and mailing fees, and other costs tied to the asylum process. I’m still creating content daily — not just to survive, but to keep building the community that helped carry me this far.
I've also not had my hormone medication since I got here, as I was not willing to risk airport security seeing bottles of estrogen and progesterone with my dead name on them and being harassed over it.
Your support will help me cover survival while I fight for my future, my safety, and the ability keep using my platform to uplift others.
Why It Matters:
This is about more than one person’s survival. It’s about creating a pathway for other trans people to find safety and a voice. If I succeed here, it will be a blueprint for others in danger — a proof of concept that fleeing to safety can be possible, even for those of us who are highly visible and targeted.
Your donation isn’t just helping me pay bills — it’s helping me live long enough to keep doing this work. It’s ensuring my voice remains loud and my presence undeniable in a world that often wants us silent.
Also, through all of this, I am still working to grow my queer-centric multimedia label Cracked Egg Productions. I see the talent in the LGBTQ+ community constantly on display, and it has been my mission to bring queer creatives together so that we can accomplish more than we ever could working solo. New Zealand is going to be a much friendly place for such an endeavor, and supporting me in turn supports that mission.
How You Can Help:
Donate whatever you can — every bit matters.
Share this fundraiser with your friends, family, and communities.
Follow and engage with my work to help keep my platform visible. You can find me across social media at the following locations:
https://www.tiktok.com/@fav_transbian_auntie
https://www.youtube.com/@yourfavoritetransbianauntie
Thank you for helping me survive, stay visible, and keep building a safer world for those who come after me.
Organizer
Rochelle Zettlemoyer
Organizer
Sunbury, PA