For obvious reasons, I desperately want to get out of the United States. Unfortunately, every country I look at doesn’t seem interested in gaining a retail worker with no savings.

Am I just fucked? Is anywhere accepting us as refugees? Is there anywhere that’s both relatively friendly to trans people AND relatively easy for an American to immigrate to?

  • lazyneet@programming.devEnglish
    253·
    20 days ago

    I’ll share my story since parts of it may apply to OP.

    In 2023 I took a trip oversees to find myself and take a break from the town I was and am living in, which is a relatively conservative pocket of Oregon. I thought I was a cis male at the time, and I was basically a closeted bisexual, which fit the local culture of toxic masculinity rather well. That was when I went back to college in order to finish my degree and hopefully move overseas.

    I started seeing myself as more non-binary and was wearing fem clothes and makeup in early 2024. I faced very little harassment in the town and was even complemented on my nails at a grocery store that plays gospel music over the radio. People were surprisingly accepting. I started HRT that summer, then everything went downhill politically. Biden dropped out of the running, a certain fascist called Harris a loser a bunch of times (which I didn’t think would be an effective strategy), and I voted Libertarian because I couldn’t take any of it seriously. Then the fascist won, and by enough of a margin that I started looking at maps to figure out where I would be safe. From December onwards I’ve been facing gender-based harassment regularly.

    I’m supposed to graduate in 2026. At that point I can move, and I might have to if I need access to medication, income, and the larger queer community. I’m not sure if I’ve earned refugee status yet, but the rise of fascism is a slow process and I don’t know what the future holds for my rights and safety.

    Is too late to recommend going to college? At the very least you’ll have something to take your mind off of the disaster, and you might meet other queer people, even if they themselves have plans to move.