‘I Do Not Want Death’: Help Queer, Disabled Femme Flee Korea

Dear community,

The story of what my friend has endured is long and harrowing. I’ll do my best, though, to keep it brief.

After experiencing an anti-Asian hate crime here in the US, being unhoused for more than a year, and losing one of her beloved ESA dogs to an unleashed dog attack, my friend — a queer and chronically ill femme — returned to Korea under the false promise of being safely reunited with, housed and protected by, her birth mother.

What she experienced in Korea was nothing short of retraumatizing and violent.

After exhausting all available support for adopted folks in Korea, my friend has made the difficult decision to return to the United States, no matter what it takes.

(And yes, you can perhaps imagine how dire this situation truly is, for her to decide to return to the US now, of all times.)

I’ve started this GoFundMe on her behalf to raise money for the following:

Total: $11,800 USD

In her words (rather than my retelling):

“I do not want death, poverty, and dying alone to be my story.

I need your help to make that not the eventual end of my time on this planet.

If you care about human rights, if you care about a person who is doing the best she can and still cannot win or catch a break, if you want to support a writer and a person who has a strong history of community organizing, if you care about feral queer femme writers, if you care, please help me.

Please help me plan an egress. Please shake your mutual aid trees. Please help me. And a little dog named Esmé.

This is not my story. I will not go down like this. I need your help to make that real.”

Every single dollar, share, and boost helps.

If you have any other tangible resources to provide (not just advice on what you would do in her position, but rather, an offering which could truly help and ease the burden at this time), please direct any such offers to: SamDylanFinch(at)Gmail(dot)com.

With great hope, determination, and gratitude,

Sam (on behalf of our beloved Désirée)

**Until we can find trustworthy and safe housing, we’ve chosen to fundraise for a studio apartment, as repeated incidents of broken promises while in shared housing have seriously jeopardized her health and safety, and sadly is not a risk worth taking again at such a precarious time. That said, if you have a temporary housing offer that is suitable for a trauma survivor with chronic illnesses and an ESA dog, please reach out with more details.