Questioning Transphobia

Edit: The kickstarter made the $15,000 goal. Congratulations, Tobi. :)

Also, Tobi posted in the comments:

Also, folks who might be interested in being a part of this there is an open casting call at http://goo.gl/Haxiq.

Tobi has a kickstarter up which has already raised $11,605 – it’s Doing it Again: Trans women’s relationship and hookup dynamics discussed and displayed in an explicit erotic documentary.

It ends on August 8th, so this is the last day to contribute. I wanted to post this sooner, but a combination of putting up appeals for Judas and Ada and me just plain forgetting about it (like I forget far too many things) meant not posting it until the last minute.

However, I really hope this reaches the $15,000 mark, for the third volume focusing on genderqueer and non-binary folks. Watch the video on the site for a longer explaination.

I received an e-mail yesterday from Sin Nombre regarding a trans woman who’s been staying with him:

I’m not sure how active you are on Facebook and I haven’t been on LJ in ages, so I’m sending this to you in the hopes that you’ll have the inclination and ability to post this on QT and/or other resources that you know of or have access to.

To make a long story short, Ada, a trans woman whom I met through a close friend, has been staying with me for the past couple of months. She’s actually leaving tomorrow because the property manager of my apt complex found out she and her pets are staying with me and wanted to charge me/us $325, which is money that neither of us has. She just managed to secure temporary housing through the 15th, which is when she’s due to go back to grad school. In the meantime, she’s not been able to find steady employment that pays a living wage or stable housing due to her trans status. She just started a GoFundMe acct to assist with the cost of living since her only means of income has been food stamps and the occasional check from her mother, who is in similar financial straits. The link is here:http://www.gofundme.com/ynipk

She needs enough to be able to purchase basic supplies that EBT won’t cover (doctors’ appts, prescriptions, pet food, personal care supplies, gas, emergency expenses, etc). She just found housing three hours away, in Memphis, and that should be sufficient until she can go back to school in Asheville around 8/15, so the hotel part isn’t applicable. The most important part is that she’ll need enough money to drive from Memphis to Asheville, NC (~500 mi) in order to access student loans and go back to school. All funds collected will only go for the aforementioned purposes. I’d appreciate any help or e-blasts you can provide.

At this point, she has enough gas to make it there and about $20 in cash. Given the abysmal job market and her impending return to school, as well as employer discrimination, it’s highly unlikely that she’ll have any source of cash income until around August 25th, since her loans won’t come until about a week after the semester starts. She has (most likely) secured housing for the school year, but since disclosing her status has not yet heard from the property management office. Any knowledge of affordable non-discriminatory rental agencies or apartment complexes in Asheville, NC would also be greatly appreciated, in the event that the property management office changes its mind about accepting her.

Any housing in Asheville would need to be pet-friendly as well, since her pets are her family and fostering them or giving them up is not an option.

Since it took me more time than is really reasonable for me to put this up, tomorrow in that post actually means today. 

My understanding of the gofundme page is that the housing issue for the next couple of weeks was resolved last night, but she still needs assistance with the other things listed.