Naomi's Gender Affirmation Fund

Naomi is a black trans artist struggling to balance full-time commitment to their craft, 40-hour weeks in the service industry, and a desire for gender-affirming procedures that are financially inaccessible in their current position. 

From Naomi:

I was in the 6th grade when peach fuzz first breached the skin of my face. Head nestled in my palm for an afternoon daydream, the wispy hairs that seemingly grew overnight shook me awake. I raised my hand to be excused from class, scampered down the hall into the boy's bathroom and pressed my face against the mirror. Inches from my reflection, I examined the puerile beard, which would thicken throughout my adolescence in tandem with the feeling of incorrectness I’d later come to understand as gender dysphoria.

When I returned to class, a hollowness crept over me, which I would spend the next decade trying to outrun. My first attempt at self-correction began when I sat back down in class. I grabbed an eraser from my bag and scrubbed vigorously at the patch of hair on my cheek. Skin and pink eraser shavings rolled into one another, falling from my face onto my desk, exposing my bare flesh and creating a scar that would outlast the school year. Here began my lifelong struggle with my gender identity, with my desire for metamorphosis from the boy I was into the girl I longed to be.

I began taking hormones in 2020 and have come a long way from the self-loathing boy of my past. Still transitioning is a journey, and while HRT has saved my life, I still struggle with my identity. I can often be found sitting in front of my vanity, scrutinizing the masculine characteristic of my face in a way eerily reminiscent of that fateful afternoon in my middle school bathroom. I measure my chin with my fingers, turn sideways and do the same to my side profile. I pull my hair back to check for any recession on my temples and lean closer in search of any hairs on my face missed by laser or razor. This practice was my ritual of self-degradation, an act born of the painful incongruence between my knowledge of self and how I appeared to the world.

Now I dream of a future where I no longer shrink myself. A life where I feel whole and free from the pressure to pretend or perform an identity for others. I dream of transcending all that has held me in bondage. I want to abandon secrecy for vulnerability. I want to exist in any room and be seen without fear of judgment, ridicule, or violence. I wish to relinquish myself from restraints that have contained me for so long and move into a future of inner peace. Transitioning is allowing yourself the freedom to live how you desire, to exist as your true self. Transitioning means I can show confidence in my womanhood, never questioning my feminity. After my gender-affirming surgery, my resolution will never again limit myself or restrict my joy. I will blossom in the new life I am creating daily. I will begin again unbound, moving full speed toward every other dream denied while I struggled to love myself.

I am asking for help pursuing the life that gender-affirming surgery will afford me. Facial Feminization Surgery- consisting of a chin reduction, jaw contouring, forehead contouring and rhinoplasty- is a significant milestone toward reconciling myself with the world around me. I am grateful for anyone who decides to support me in this journey to find comfort in myself and peace in my existence.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and even if you cannot donate, passing along my campaign is beyond appreciated. Lastly, my blessedness is not lost on me, so again, thank you all.

Love,

Naomi