In recognition of this year’s Trans Day of Visibility we come with a humble ask to share with us in a celebration of our decade of beautiful
My name is Noor, and I have been blessed to know my partner, Morgan, for 10 years! We have been lovers for 6, married for 4, and we come to you in recognition of this year’s Trans Day of Visibility with a humble ask to share with us in a celebration of our decade of beautiful trans love. Over these many years we have cared for each other through countless struggles, and in turn have been cared for by our loving friends and family throughout. I am reaching out once again to ask for your support in helping us, a brown trans queer disabled couple in Texas, stay housed.
As trans people of color who are both criminalized, finding places that we can rent is extremely difficult. With gentrification driving the Austin housing market to unaffordable extremes, we find ourselves in a painfully precarious situation - though we recently found a beautiful home to rent only six months ago and happily shared the news with many of you, we found out our landlord is selling the house and we are unlikely to be able to stay much longer. The exact timeline is uncertain - if we find a spot that will work with our situation, we have to be prepared to leave immediately and pay many months of rent and large deposits upfront (the bare minimum required when renting as criminalized people, which still does not guarantee us a home). This drives our sense of urgency in needing to raise this money as quickly as possible so we are not left in a dangerous position of having nowhere to put ourselves, our cats, our family members who occasionally stay with us, our work, and our possessions when our time in this home we have come to love runs out. As we are faced with moving for a second time in the middle of an ongoing global pandemic, while both dealing with never-ending violent impacts of incarceration, in-access to stable employment, and a myriad of chronic health problems, we must ask for your support in helping us continue to overcome these obstacles.
It is difficult to continually have to put our trauma on display to ask for help, and yet we know and cherish the trust you have placed in us. We welcome any questions (within reason) about our circumstances and are happy to share more about what makes us contributors to our communities.
Noor is a dedicated lifelong community organizer whose spare time is devoted to furthering abortion access and general sexual health access for Texans, particularly for queer and trans people of color. Throughout the 2020 pandemic, they were directly responsible for raising and distributing $30k of cash assistance to unhoused, disabled, and trans sex workers of color in Austin. They are a queer, trans, and disabled artist, SWer, educator, and doula of south Asian descent.
Morgan is a queer and disabled trans Latina woman of Puerto Rican and Colombian descent who is passionate about using technology to increase the support and joyful experiences that marginalized communities have access to. As a junior web developer and writer, she cares deeply about envisioning and creating a world where technology is used to innovate solutions for everyone, not just as a capitalistic tool. She recently graduated at the top of her class from a coding boot camp program, and is a consistent leader and mentor to others in all areas of her life. Morgan is currently looking for employment in this field - if you have any leads, please reach out!
Some of our combined monthly expenses include:
$1600 rent
$350 utility bills
$600 health insurance premium
$400 credit card and loan payments
$500 reoccurring medical procedure expenses
$200 cost of prescribed medication
Up to $200 for pet care
(Estimated $3850 total)
The average monthly cost of a rental home that can accommodate us is anywhere between $1300-2300 based on current rates. Securing a rental home for someone impacted by former incarceration and who is still under specific forms of state-monitored surveillance involves putting down a deposit (usually 2x the rent or more) as well as paying 3-6 months of rent up front; this also precludes us from being able to live with roommates. We have inconsistent access to income due to the pandemic and really need assistance to meet these costs and not end up without housing or the medical care we need. Every little bit helps!
Please share this fundraiser within your networks, especially those that are invested in survival of trans people of color. If you donate to this fundraiser we ask that it be with the understanding that we will not be able to pay you back, and your donation is a no-strings-attached gift to us. Thank you in advance for your support and love! If you would like to donate directly please use paypal [email protected] or venmo @noor717.
