Support el's Gender Affirming Surgery!

I'm raising funds for essential out-of-pocket insurance costs & deductibles, basic supplies for after my surgery, and quality of life improvements. With the procedure date rapidly arriving, I need support to cover my medical bills, which will be well over $1000, and out-of-pocket procedures ($3600) not including supplies I need to purchase during my post-operative period.

I'm an Asian (Cantonese) Transwoman who has worked to support my family since legally able to. I'm a community worker, and have been mutually supported by, and worked for, community centers, as a free/low-cost Birth Doula, as staff at Lyon-Martin Health Services, and youth empowerment programs.

Although it is my choice to get these procedures at this time and in this way, it has never been my choice to live in a world where gender is dictated by our presentation and policed intimately, resulting in an extremity of experience wherein transwomen face generalized antagonism and brutality, threats to our safety, social isolation, lack of interest in our personal lives, lack of personal investment from others, and lack of capital investment. We live in a world overcome by forms of internalized transphobia, including a broad acceptance of stereotypes and tropes about our experience. Supporting my surgery is one way to show your investment in trans lifeways, help me to survive the genocide of trans people happening across the globe, and support the bodily autonomy of women.

And, it is not my choice to have to share out vulnerable aspects of my experience and private medical information to be able to pay for surgeries that will sustain my life. All trans people essentially trade their privacy and intimate life to have life-saving, gender-affirming surgeries, which puts us at risk of job/income loss and further brutality in public. However, this is largely invisibilized by the nature of violence, which isolates and individualizes us.

In acknowledgment of all this difficulty, I'm hoping to be celebrated in making this transition through the reciprocity of my community. All of us should be generously given the time to rest, spaciousness in medical bills, and love and care in milestone moments like these; however, capitalism dictates scarcity and exhaustion. Support my journey by gifting me the space to breathe and be at ease during this time of vulnerability and transformation!

JOIN MY GIVING CIRCLE in the following tiers to receive gifts from me!