Raq's Medical Transition

Hi! I'm Raq. Let me tell you a little bit about myself. The first question I always get asked is "how is it pronounced," so for the record it's pronounced the same way you'd pronounce the word "rack" as in a shelf. I'm 21 years old, I'm a nonbinary jewish transfemme individual, and I'm from the northeast. I've been on feminizing medication for gender transition for a little under 6 years(interesting fact, my surgery date is my 6 year anniversary on HRT). My transness is a very important part of my life. I'm very interested in philosophy and psychology and my queerness has influenced my pursuits in both of those. Some of my favorite queer authors include Jack Halberstam and Paul Preciado. I have my own personal history with mental health status and substance use that I'm not going to get into detail here just for privacy sake. Currently I'm a student certified as a recovery support specialist in school for nursing so I can professionally help others who've gone through similar experiences to what I've had to go through. I'm a big advocate on the line of both of those issues, that being supporting those with mental health status and those with substance use issues. My queerness has also influenced my advocacy insofar as I'm of the opinion that disenfranchised groups, particularly black and queer people, tend to have their voices heard less in conversations of mental health and substance use. I'm making this GoFundMe fundraiser because I'm currently in the process of trying to get vaginoplasty. Vaginoplasty is the medical term for what most people would colloquially refer to as "bottom surgery," or the medical process of changing the genitals of someone who was assigned male at birth so they match that of someone who was assigned female at birth. I'm hoping insurance will cover this procedure but even if they do there are going to be costs throughout this whole process that insurance can't cover. For example my doctor's office for vaginoplasty is out of state and because of that I need to pay for transportation every time I have an in person appointment since I can not currently drive. I'd really appreciate your financial support through this whole process. Any amount helps.

P.S. If you're curious about that silly little boy in the cover picture that's my cat. His name is Max and he has a husband who's a tuxedo cat named Huey.