Trans Americans Are Turning to TikTook to Crowdfund Their Relocations
Since the election, Richards says that applications have skyrocketed, with a majority of requests coming from Texas and Florida. In October, TCP had gotten a little more than 20 applications. By mid-November, that number was already over 400. “Everyone is terrified right now,” she says. “Nobody really knows what’s going to happen … the rhetoric is already occurring and already being translated to legislation. We have our problems already, even without whatever Trump’s going to do.”
On platforms such as Instagram, mutual aid funds have offered a safe way for people to both anonymously seek assistance for, and donate toward, relocation costs, medical costs, therapy, travel expenses, and more. One popular account started in 2020, transanta, posts stories from and letters from trans people in need; users can then anonymously donate directly to whomever they like by visiting that person’s gift registry, which is shared by the Instagram account. Others, like Genderbands, offer yearly grants for a variety of transition care-related costs, including procedures, travel costs, and paperwork.
It can be tricky, however, for people in need to find these networks. Both Iris and Kaliyah were familiar with Rainbow Railroad, a non-profit operating globally that helps LGBTQ+ flee persecution, but less so with smaller, more concentrated efforts. Getting word out to people who need assistance is paramount. Complicating the issue is also the question of safety for organizers themselves. To make themselves known is to also put a target on their backs.
Richards has taken the responsibility of a spotlight to better protect her team, she says. TCP is intent on “scaling as quickly as possible,” including fundraising, training volunteers, and trying to compile resources outside of Colorado. “We’re talking to other groups in Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Washington, the other safe states who are trying to compile similar resource lists like we do,” she says. “We’re trying to support other groups trying to do the same so we can meet this demand.”
None of that work can be done blindly and requires careful vetting. “It’s definitely tricky,” she says. “It requires a lot of trust on both ends.”
“And even some of those networks are too underground for us to touch. They will not work with a 501(c)(3), which I respect. I understand that because we are more above ground than most of these networks have been, we are inherently at a greater risk.”
With weeks left before Trump takes office in January, the politicization of the trans community shows no signs of slowing down. Kaliyah points to the millions of dollars Republicans spent on anti-trans ads in the most recent election cycle. “For people who refuse to educate themselves—we are also in the age of misinformation where things that are not true get spread,” Kaliyah says. Focusing on trans people, she says, ”was just a way to sway the election for people who were already radically right to further demonize a demographic of people.”
