Help Arely Westley get Gender-Affirming Care!

Help Arely Westley get Gender-Affirming Care!

My name is Mich Gonzalez & I am a transgender man who had all the community support that I needed for my gender-affirming surgery. I am asking you to please help me make sure that my trans sister Arely Westley, a gem of a person & national activist for good, receives the same!

Goal: $5,000

$800: travel costs including travel for surgery out-of-state

$1,500: out-of-state room & board post-surgery

$1,000: travel & food costs for caretaker companion

$1,700: Healthcare costs, including medication & follow-up care

Who is Arely?

Arely is a transgender Latinx woman who serves as a Campaign Director at BreakOUT! where she has worked to serve her community since 2016. As the Director she is growing the organization's Latinx LGBTQ youth base in New Orleans and building a bridge between communities. She was honored as a Community Leader by the Miss Primavera Latinx pageant in 2016 and is also a member of the board of directors for the Southeast Immigrant Rights Network (SEIRN), and sits on the community advisory board for the Tulane Total Health Clinic. Arely was most recently honored as the 2023 Deep South LGBTQ Freedom Fighter by the Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity in Jackson, Mississippi. Arely is dedicated to the freedom movement in all aspects of her life. She lives in her hometown of New Orleans with her 9 pups, 2 kittens, 1 bunny, and a growing number of chickens.

Why Support Gender-Affirming Care?

In a society where trans affirming healthcare is not provided nor facilitated by our government, it is up to us to hold each other down! We take care of our community! We are elated to share the wonderful news of beloved community organizer and sister to many Arely Westley receiving gender affirming surgery! We are asking for your help in making this journey fully possible by donating and sharing out, far and wide.

While this is a joyful moment, this has not been an easy road, with Arely having to navigate multiple barriers and intersections that come with being a Trans Latinx Woman living in the South including incarceration as well as state and interpersonal violence. Throughout it all, Arely has led multiple campaigns and programs which have benefited not just the Trans community, but the larger community as well. While struggling against systems built to dehumanize her, she put in the work for her community at the local, statewide, and national levels. It goes without saying that her work has and will continue to have longstanding impact on the Trans, Queer, BIPOC and immigrant communities.

When someone who has given so much to her community needs our support, we show up! Can you please support us in making sure Arely has everything she needs? Healthcare should be a human right, but our country’s systems are not built for us to thrive. Self-determination, living our truth, and community care–these are a birthright that everyone deserves, especially someone like Arely who gives so much.

Why support a community activist?

Arely is one of the many reasons, many Trans and Queer people today have had access to the housing, education, and other opportunities that are so rarely afforded to people in our community. We must invest in the wholeness of our freedom fighters. By sharing or donating a small amount, together we can show up for someone who has shown up for so many.