Sevara Gender Affirming Surgery

Hi all, Sevara here.

My mission with transitioning was always to maintain privacy and to fund the changes to my body from my own pocket. For anybody that knows me well, they know that i’m incredibly stubborn with my independence. If I have a goal in mind, I’ll try my hardest to achieve it with minimal help from others.

However, in this political climate where trans people are demonised by the right, we don’t receive enough support from Medicare or other Health institutions to reintegrate into society under our preferred gender identity. There aren’t many financial options for medical transitioning other than sex work and crowdsourcing funds (Unless you’re born into money. I mean hey, good for you if so). I’ve worked 3 jobs at one point and still didn’t scratch the target funds for just one gender affirming surgery. As much as ‘passing’ is a ridiculous concept, it’s still at the forefront of trans people’s minds for many reasons.

Without getting too personal, I’ve kept most of my transition quiet. I avoid a lot of conversation surrounding my lived trans experience and move forward in silence. Outside of my community, I’ve been at the hands of physical and verbal violence, misgendering, lost job/career opportunities, fetishisation and disenfranchisement more times than I can count. I’m a strong person, but all of this takes a toll on my mental health. The constant feeling of existing on the fringe of society as an ‘other’ can be very overwhelming at times. I’ve never been the person to care about how people perceive me, but when people in positions of power identify clock me it creates an extremely dangerous dynamic where my life is threatened. The harsh reality for all my friends/family is that; there are spaces/cities/countries which I cannot exist in without the threat of violence. I just wish for nothing more but to simply exist as a trans woman in peace, without constantly thinking about it i’m passable enough.

This is why I’ve finally come to terms with reaching out to you guys for gender affirming surgeries. It has taken a lot of conversation with myself and others, but I genuinely cannot move forward with my life if there is unrest in my soul because my body doesn’t ‘feel female’. If you don’t understand the trans struggle, the concept of gender dysphoria can seem like a selfish feeling: because I feel like shit, YOU need to give me money. But it is much deeper than that, there is no metaphor I can use that will describe what i’m talking about, but you need to trust me on this when I say gender affirming surgeries saves lives.

Thus, I am extremely grateful for whatever amount you can donate. I don’t expect my goal to be reached, nor do I expect for all my surgeries to be covered. I am simply just a person at my wits end, asking for help.

To close off: trans people are doctors, criminals, artists, construction workers, hackers, actors, singers, teachers, drug dealers, mothers/fathers, and your children. We’re the worst people but also the best people out there. We encompass the entire human range, with the only difference being we don’t accept the body we’re born into.

“We are all worthy of safety and protection everywhere, including in our own homes with our own families and shelters in our own neighbourhoods and churches and schools and jobs and hospitals and clinics and communities and cities and country and world. We are worthy of legal aid, liberty, justice, resources. And we are worthy of life, we are worthy of love.” - Indya Moore

I am everything else first and trans second.