RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes

Darkfae · **08-19-2013, 02:55 PM**

I'm really happy to see personal crowd funding sites (ones that allow for things that are not product related) working for transfolk to get their surgeries. The "scholarship" programmes are very limited, with such small application windows, it often doesn't work out for a large portion of those who need the surgeries.

The downside to crowd funding is that there are a number of sites out there that are not legit. Indiegogo is really the only site I'd ever suggest to anyone doing a non-product based fund.

I'm also really happy that more insurances are starting to cover transition surgeries. Even some state insurance programmes are starting to cover the basic surgeries (top surgeries and bottom surgeries, but not anything more like facial reconstruction, hair removal, etc).

There are also several states who have made it much easier to get certain records (driver's license/state ID, birth certificate, etc) switched over to the proper gender even without surgeries - in these states, you just need to be on hormonal therapy or a certain number of years into the transition cycle to get them changed.

While a lot of places have CareCredit, that is still based on your personal credit, although their threshold seems to be way lower than traditional credit cards. Even with CareCredit, payments for a surgery that costs $15,000.00 end up being at minimum $400.00 per month; that payment plan tacks on a lot of interest as it is a 60 month plan, so the end result is paying almost $25,000.00 overall. For the majority of people, especially those with trouble finding a good job (or any job at all), $400.00 is just as out of reach.

I'm really glad to see a healthy LGBTQIA community here, and the level of acceptance from the community at large. I was really afraid to start playing Dwynd, who identifies as gender neutral, and people didn't bat an eyelash; even in the LGBTQIA community at large, gender neutral and most androgens get a lot of flack.

Lastly, Nik, our income should be stabilizing here in September. Once it does, my fiancÃ© and I will donate. I actually first saw your fund on FB, shared it there already, and we were already planning to donate. =)

P.S. Nik, did you play Aion ever? >.>

DimmerMeerkat · **08-19-2013, 04:38 PM**

Thanks so much for all of the support, everyone. From monetary donations, to your kind words, to getting the word out there, every little bit has been helping. I am still a ways away from my goal, but if the fundraiser should end without reaching it, I intend to put the money away in a separate credit union where I'll leave the funds until it's time for surgery, and potentially open a second fundraiser later on down the line.

I'd be happy to share my whole experience with everyone down the line if there's any interest. I was fortunate to have finally found my HD camcorder after almost a year of searching. I won it from NCsoft for winning first place in their second official video contest--and I won first place in their first one too! When it's surgery time, I'd like to record a little bit of a before and after. I'll probably open up another YouTube account to do this on since my main account, DimmerMeerkat, is almost exclusively dedicated to the MMOs I play. (Expect FFXIV content soooon.)

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks! So... thanks!

Kyouri · **08-19-2013, 08:46 PM**

(08-19-2013, 02:55 PM)Darkfae Wrote: While a lot of places have CareCredit, that is still based on your personal credit, although their threshold seems to be way lower than traditional credit cards. Even with CareCredit, payments for a surgery that costs $15,000.00 end up being at minimum $400.00 per month; that payment plan tacks on a lot of interest as it is a 60 month plan, so the end result is paying almost $25,000.00 overall. For the majority of people, especially those with trouble finding a good job (or any job at all), $400.00 is just as out of reach.

Yeah, it ended up costing me a lot.. Only reason I got approved for enough of a credit line was because my mom was nice enough to let me use her name/credit to pay for the surgery.. It DID end up costing me a LOT in the end, but I managed to pay it off (ended up selling a lot of my anime/manga collection in the process..) so I'm pretty thankful and I don't regret it in the slightest. It's difficult to put a number on finally feeling good about yourself. Smile

But yeah, I was glad to have the option available to me, even though it cost a lot.

PerkPrincess · **08-19-2013, 08:53 PM**

If it's still possible to contribute, I'd be more than happy to chip in once my grants come in before September! Until then, I'll be waving my flags in full support!

Rhostel · **08-22-2013, 06:56 PM**

I really hope this works out for you. Smile

As long as people are confessing, I'm not really cis- nor fully trans-. Actually, I've never really been able to nail down a gender identity I feel comfortable with. I'm aware of the various other options people have determined, but I feel like I fall outside all of them.

Admittedly, the main reason I don't feel genderfluid is that I'm too apathetic to act on any such impulse.

Darkfae · **08-23-2013, 03:49 AM**

(08-22-2013, 06:56 PM)Rhostel Wrote: I really hope this works out for you.

As long as people are confessing, I'm not really cis- nor fully trans-. Actually, I've never really been able to nail down a gender identity I feel comfortable with. I'm aware of the various other options people have determined, but I feel like I fall outside all of them.

Admittedly, the main reason I don't feel genderfluid is that I'm too apathetic to act on any such impulse.

Personally, I'm still trying to figure it out for myself as well.

While I was born in SoCal, I grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah - we moved there when I was 4. It was not the ideal place for a lot of things, from figuring out my sexuality to religion to a host of other things. Back then, it was not as progressive as it is now (which is sort of frightening, in a way); the dominant religion was about 75% of the valley, with mostly (at the time) mainstream Christianity making up about 20% of the valley. Anything that went against those sort of ideals was rather repressed.

Even after moving back to SoCal (liberal San Diego), those things were still largely in flux, mostly due to the fact that I didn't really have time to put a lot of thought into it. A lot of sexuality types and gender identities were still being defined then, more so than they are now.

I've figured out that sexually, I prefer women to men. I've figured out that I can have intimate relationships with either gender. I'm more attracted to intelligence and personality than gender or form. I suppose in that regard I'm some mixture of a lesbian, a pansexual, and a sapiosexual.

Gender wise, I believe that despite my extremely female form, I'm somewhere betweenÂ androgyneÂ or bigender. For a very long time, I was called a "tomboy", but I never felt that I was just wholly male; as a teen, I could dress up as girly and elegantly as the best of them, but I never felt just wholly female. I eventually ended up creating a set specific male characters to help express some of it through RP and gaming. I suppose I'm bigender with androgyne tendencies or an androgyne with bigender tendencies?

Boxes are hard.

Anyway, the study of gender is becoming a bigger and bigger thing in both the medical and psychological world. The wiki at that link is a start for collecting such information into one place, and presents both Western, Eastern, and Non-Standard gender information. I'm hoping to see it grow, or for more places with easily accessible information on the full spectrum to surface.

F'ibril Nuhn · **08-23-2013, 07:19 PM**

Shut up and take my money already! -sniffles and hands over IOUs- Well... on Payday shut up and take my money! I could use a little less Mountain Dew and fried snacky treats anyway to help you reach your goal. I don't have any kinds of confessions or anything like that kind of thing. Just think everyone should be able to feel comfortable with themselves in their own desired version of what is normal for them. So.. Take my money before I find you and hug you til you crumble to pieces.

Ok my confession is I am a hugger. Heart

DimmerMeerkat · **09-23-2013, 08:19 PM**

Sorry this is a little necrobumpy, but my campaign only has twelve days remaining and I'm about 11.3k short. I don't expect that I'll hit my goal, but I'm still looking for contributions to put away and save towards my top surgery in the end. As such I've posted an update with some promises:

Quote:Under two weeks remaining and I'm at $730 of $12,000. While it's not likely I'll reach my goal, your contributions still help! They will be put in savings and subtracted from the total I ask for on my next round of crowd-funding.

Remember, you do get things for donating! They range from sketchy-doodles, to sculpey figurines, to full websites or videos! Help me get to at least $1,000 before the deadline and I will make a YouTube video with my actual face, talking (which is weird for me because I usually do video game footage and voice-overs or music), thanking all of my contributors for being so very lovely.

Get me up to $2,000 or more and I'll make an extra special video that will be so, so much more than just an awkwardly talking head! It'll be carefully segmented and edited, and I might even do something dare-devilish and stupid that could result in bodily injury, such as... going outside, or starting a car, or petting my elderly cat's lower back, or trying to dance, etc.

There's only 12 days left, from September 23rd, 2013. That means this ends on October 05, 2013 at 11:59pm PT! Help if you can!

raindrops · **09-24-2013, 01:34 AM**

Given what I can afford right now. I might donate a little more later, depending on how things go.

I wish you all the best with this, and even though it looks like you're not going to make your target I hope this helps you. It's absolutely ridiculous that so many insurers don't cover this stuff.

Rio van Rosch · **09-24-2013, 05:42 PM**

When I get paid next, I'll definitely have to donate some to this!Â
Ah yeah, I'm also another trans person (MtF), so I guess we can add another to the tally? Really awesome to see that there's so many of us in the FFXIV RP community.

Nimarhie · **09-24-2013, 06:00 PM**

Good luck with this, lots of love and support from me. I wish I was in the position I could change too, but it's gonna have to wait. If I can spare something I will help.

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Transgender FtM Top Surgery Fundraiser

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes