Lynn's FFS: Support a Trans Mom's Affirming Care

Dear Friends and Friends of Friends,

I am Lynn, a transgender woman and parent in her mid-30s, and I am reaching out to you today with heartfelt gratitude for the acceptance and support me and my kid have received in the last years from friends and family, parents, educators and colleagues, partners and clients in my work life. Whether you know me personally or just heard about it from friends, thank you so much for being here at my fundraiser!

I need help covering the costs of Facial Feminization Surgery (FFS).

This surgery will help me to complete my transition and help me to have body aligned with my gender identity, giving me much more space to breathe and just be me. And almost more importantly, it will help me and my 6-year-old kid to navigate the world more safely and also allow my kid not to be questioned about their parent's identity all the time. To summarize our situation: at the moment it is really difficult for us to participate in everyday life without facing discrimination in a lot of unexpected and hurtful ways. This experience affects my kid a lot, and I want to raise awareness about it, so that's why I am bringing it up here in the fundraiser.

My journey as a trans woman

Since early childhood, I struggled with my trans identity, which took various forms and shapes in my development, failed attempts of outings, self-denial, inner conflict and finally depression when trying to fit in as the gender assigned at birth. Fast Forward 30 years later: Becoming a parent I needed to get my life together and live as the person I am — to be the best version of myself for my child. Over the past four years, I have taken significant steps towards self-acceptance, legally changing my name and gender marker, and undergoing hormone therapy. These choices have brought immense happiness and allowed me to build a fulfilling life within a supportive community. Today, I like the tall, fun and weird, sporty woman I have grown into. BTW this is me.

My experience with discrimination

While I am a happy person overall, outgoing, extroverted and yes, having a lot of fun in life - something that was hard to imagine a few years ago - I still struggle a with discrimination. This is very much because now I am a tall trans woman with a very feminine body and clothing style. However, coming out so late has left me with masculine features of my face that hormones can not reverse. But even more problematic, a large portion of people I encounter on the street give me transphobic reactions. I am encountering a range of behaviors towards me that easily would throw a lot of people out of balance if they had to endure… Starring people and permanent background noise of people talking about you, clogging you and questioning your gender, slurs and microaggressions, overstepping questions by strangers and sometimes direct threats of violence, yelling or sexual assaults. Often its okey and manageable but other times it really takes all my energy to cope with.

Experience with kid as a trans woman

This experience is hard, but it just seems to intensify when I am with my kid. Going with the subway to kindergarten is for example something I try to avoid, because of how unsafe it is for my kid. Because these kinds of aggressions are much more harmful for my kid than to me. While I give my best to shield my kid from everything and focus on our bonding and their development, sometimes things are out of my control and - I want to bring this to people's attention - kids just need love from their parents. Kids do not need strangers who hate their parents for not fitting into a system they were never considered part of in the first place!

This is my kid and me in anime style, we are magic ✨.

The Urgency and Importance of Your Support

Time is of the essence, as the cost of the FFS procedure may increase or become less accessible in the future. I want to reach the funding goal before February 2024 and be able to do it on the date I booked. I am trying already to save money for three years and had a much cheaper quote with Dr. Bart Van de Ven. Unfortunately, he passed away last year and the recession made everything so much more expensive. So now I am with Facial Team, and it is very expensive, but it is the address I trust the most. Since German health insurance does not pay for this essential surgery for trans people, I rely on the community!

Financial Situation and Challenges

As a self-employed artist, I face unique financial challenges. While salaries are good in my field, opportunities are limited, and I receive payment for less than half of the year. Despite my determination, to save up the necessary funds for the FFS procedure, I could never make it work with the ups and downs of a freelancer and it would take me a lot more years than I feel I would have right now given the situation with kid. I share this transparently to provide insight into the financial realities I face and to emphasize the importance of your support. In an optimal world, the society that is causing this need for the procedure should pay for it (german health insurance hello?!), but for now, I am relying on the community.

Also, if you want to read up on the topic of FFS, I recommend reading about Coco's and Lyra's Journey

Coco's FFS with Facial Team

Lyra Pramuk about her FFS on Vice

Call to Action

I humbly ask for your contribution to this campaign. Your support, both financially and by sharing this campaign with your networks, will help me a lot with my transition journey. Every contribution, regardless of its size, brings will be relieving for us and make it a reality.

I know is not only about me, but we have seen a lot of fundraisers help trans people in that way and I wish we can do a lot more in the future!

please consider subscribing to my tik tok for updates: LINK TO MY TIKTOK

Also, I would be super grateful if you could stay in touch because this fundraiser will benefit a lot from you repeatedly sharing it over the next couple of months. I will also produce new content that can be shared and make new calls to action. To stay connected and get all new posts to share, you can join the following telegram channel: Join Lynn's Gofundme Channel on Telegram

In deep connection,

Luna.