Help a Trans Girl and her Partner Escape Texas

Hi! My name is Salvia Hunden, you may know me as MAILPUP or salv the dog! I'm a 23 year old queer trans girl, multimedia artist, performer, and musician currently living in Denton, Texas, USA. I live with my life partner Gianni, and while we have tried our best to create a safe and happy home, the unfortunate truth is that the political climate of our surroundings has made life unlivable. Every day I go out as my true self, I risk being assaulted or killed by any of the countless people surrounding me who want me gone because of my identity. What is much more pressing and frightening though, is the high likelihood if not prolonged certainty, that my HRT will be made illegal within a year, causing untold harm to me physically and emotionally through forced detransition. I can not live without access to healthcare and my hormones, and it is increasingly starting to feel like living in Texas is a death sentence waiting to happen. I've lived here almost my entire life, moving here when I was 8 due to a change in my family's employment, and it has been 15 years of living in a depressing hot urban sprawl, far separated from my friends, loved ones, and family members, nearly all of whom live up north.

Creating music and making a career out of it has been the greatest blessing of my life, and I am eternally grateful for the growth I've achieved so far. However, I am only making just enough money to be able to pay my rent and bills every month, making saving up money a near-impossibility. I've tried my hardest despite this, but even harder is my partner's circumstances. As he is unable to drive, he is very limited in this city with barely any public transportation, and has to work a foodservice job that barely pays him enough to scrape by, leaving him even more challenged to save up money. Because of these situations, we have started to get quite terrified that we're going to be stuck here, while friend after friend, family after family, move away to peace, happiness, and safety. I would do anything for this life. I have only known existence in a place that is fundamentally opposed to mine, and I can't continue on like that.

Last year, Gianni and I visited Seattle, and it was a blessing and a curse for the same reason, I didn't realize just how good life could actually be. I long to live near nature, beauty, safety, community, and friendship. To be able to not have to worry about my boyfriend walking miles in scalding heat along a dangerous unprotected road, by having any transit whatsoever. To be able to walk outside as myself without the fear of being harmed or worse. And to be able to know that no matter who's in my state's government, my right to exist won't be taken away. I have connections in Seattle who are ready to accept me into their scene, and I will be immediately ready to continue doing shows and contributing to the city's thriving queer culture and music scene. It feels like the city could not possibly be any more perfect for me, a guaranteed life success, it's just the getting there that's so hard.

That's where the gofundme comes in. We've tried our hardest to save and move on our own, but our time of legal existence and safety is rapidly running out. I've thought about starting this for a year but have been too nervous, thinking no one would see it or help. But over the past year, I've been lucky enough to garner an absolutely incredible community that I cherish with all my heart. Now, I wish from the bottom of that heart that I can humbly reach out to them and ask for help, any level of help whatsoever, whether that means sending over a dollar or even just sharing this post around, to get my plea heard. I worry deeply that this is my last chance to have a happy, peaceful life.

I've set the goal to $5,000. This money will be used solely and entirely for the move. It will cover the expenses of getting a U-Haul across the country, the hotels and gas along the way, the down payment and security deposit of our new home, as well as a buffer of one or two months rent while we look for new jobs. I am confident that with this amount of monetary help, I can finally accomplish my greatest dream of getting to live a happy, comfortable life with the love of my life. All I have known is the south, the hatred and judgement of my peers, and being across the country from loved ones. Please, if able, help us start to truly live. Thank you endlessly for reading.

With all my ♥,

Salvia Hunden

"For the good of society — and especially for the good of the poor people who have fallen prey to this confusion, transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely — the whole preposterous ideology, at every level.”

-Michael Knowles, speaker at CPAC 2023

I will stay in this world with my head held sky high, and my heart burning bright, whether they want it or not.