Team Alex—Gender Affirming Surgery

We are organizing for our beloved friend, Alex, a 25-year-old graduate student and organizer based in New York City who is seeking top surgery to affirm his transmasculine gender identity. For the first time, Alex has access to quality trans healthcare through his school's insurance, including a dedicated transgender care team. As you might imagine, this high-quality healthcare is expensive and top surgery will require Alex to pay a significant amount of money out-of-pocket. In light of recent anti-trans legislation, Alex's top surgery feels more urgent than ever, especially since he will likely live in a state with advancing anti-trans laws after completing his studies in just a few years. As a disabled student with no family support, and with the expenses of being diagnosed and treated for autoimmune disease (not to mention the cost of living in New York City), Alex needs our financial support to make this important gender-affirming surgery happen. The funds raised here will go towards aspects of Alex's surgery that will not be covered through insurance and at least one month of living expenses as Alex recovers and is unable to work. The surgery is scheduled for June 2023.

As his fundraising team, we (Kirsten, Addie, KB, and Benji) are a group of Alex's seminary colleagues and friends who care deeply about Alex and want to release him from the labor of having to fundraise for himself. We are happy to share that Alex will also have the support of community members for post-surgery care, including meals and in-person support. We love Alex with all our hearts and believe in his calling as a chaplain, organizer, and scholar. Our hope and dream is that our community at Union Theological Seminary and beyond will come together to support our dear friend and sibling as he embarks upon this important step in his journey. Thank you for your support!