Logan Watmore's Top Surgery Fundraiser

Greetings~

My name is Leon Ishizu, some of you may know me as my stage persona Tokio Night. I am a trans male burlesque performer and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, creating and carving out spaces for people much like myself to have a chance to show case their talents and skills without prejudice and creating safe spaces. Something I would have never come into had I not been able to realize my transition. Which brings me to my point and what we are really here for: my best friend, my life partner, my other half, and one of the most wonderful, patient and truly amazing people I know: my boyfriend, Logan Watmore.

Throughout my journey and transition into the man I am today, Logan has always been there for me. Rooting me on, keeping me going, and reminding me I am exactly who I say I am, who I know I am. Like myself, Logan was declared female at birth, and much like myself, as he grew into the person he is today, he realized that box he was put in was not where he belonged. 3 years ago, Logan took that leap and began his own transitional journey to become the man he always was.

Unfortunately we still live in a society with a large stigma against transitional medicine and options for people like us, including limiting freedoms for hormonal therapy, barriers and walls erected for name and gender marker changing policies, many of which have been put in place to make the process as difficult as possible for us to receive the help and treatments we need to be able to live at peace with our bodies. One such wall is the ability to have and afford masculinizing chest reconstruction, or 'top surgery'.

For the past 2 years, Logan has been quietly fighting the system; seeking therapy notes, getting on hormones, submitting paper work, following up with doctors and institutions, and applying for financial services to help cover the cost of this reconstructive procedure that is essential for him to live at peace in his body and alleviate his gender dysphoria. After those 2 years of literally fighting for his rights, we thought we reached the finish line 4 months ago when he was finally given a date for the procedure. He requested work off, we got everything at home prepped for his recovery period, when we received a grievous phone call that his surgery had been cancelled due to a change in Nebraska Medicine's policy.

In the past, Nebraska Medicine offered a Financial Aid Service that looked at your debt to income ratio, and based on this, would help financially assist a patient in their services to help cover medically necessary procedures that would otherwise be near impossible to afford. It is how myself and many other transgender people in the area were able to afford their gender affirming surgeries. Until this year, top surgery was one such that was considered under the medically necessary umbrella according to their policies. Nebraska is a very conservative state, and as such has no state laws to assist with the coverage of transgender affirming surgeries. Between Nebraska's state laws, as Logan's insurance is through the state, and now Nebraska Medicine's change in policy, he is at a loss to able to afford what is still a medically necessary surgery, despite what the state wants to consider it, and the only surgeon in the state who can perform the surgery cannot put him back on the books until it is paid in full.

The base cost to cover the surgery is roughly $10,000, something neither of us have. Seeing my partner work so hard for so long to only have the door shut on his face, is something I cannot tolerate; especially after knowing myself the pain and process to have to go through something like this. I knew I had to do something, anything to help.

As such, I implore you to consider donating to our cause. Every dollar we make from this campaign will go 100% towards Logan's top surgery fund, so that he can finally live at peace in his body, a peace he fought so hard to give me years ago when I had my surgery, and one he rightfully deserves. I could not feel so at peace in my body to do what I do today in performance arts or even just continue existing if it weren't for my medically necessary surgeries to help me be in the body I knew was where I belonged, and the same can be said for Logan.

In addition to this fundraiser, I will also be hosting a benefit show for Logan on December, 11th, 2021 at The Sydney in Omaha, NE titled:

Some Assembly Required: A Benefit Show for Logan Watmore's Gender Affirming Surgery

All proceeds of which will also go towards the cause and will update this campaign throughout the planning process of the show as well to keep people updated.

Please help us get to find that peace he has the right to, and to be able to call his body home. Thank you and much love,

Leon Ishizu / Tokio Night

and

Logan Watmore