THEGAYUK WINTER 13 /14 Issue 1
!
walked in, the place was
packed. Everyone from
close friends to people he
barely recognised showed
up to congratulate him.
Most crowd-funded
campaigns are for “top
surgery”, for female-tomale transitions, and
breast implants for maleto-female. Breasts (or the
lack thereof) are
obviously more noticeable
than what’s down below,
and the surgery is less
expensive and less
dangerous than “bottom”
procedures.
!
The burgeoning world of
crowd-funding isn’t just
for charity half-marathons
anymore. Since 2012,
more than 90 people have
used Indiegogo to crowdfund gender reassignment
surgeries, and that’s just a
sliver of the thousands
who have successfully
done the same on crowdfunding sites like
GoFundMe and WePay.
!
“It’s a lot easier to ask for
$9,000 than it is to ask
for $25,000,” says Jacob
Rostovsky, a 22-year-old
trans male and founder of
Trans United With Family
and Friends (TUFF), an
organisation that helps
transgender people fund
their surgeries. According
to Rostovsky, funding for
most crowd-sourced
surgery campaigns often
comes from people
outside the transgender
community. ‘It’s like,
“Why should I pay for
your surgery if I can’t pay
for my own?”’ he says.
!
A full regimen of femaleto-male reassignment
surgery can cost between
$6,000 and $24,000, and
male-to-female operations
can run well over
$50,000. Because most
health insurance policies
don’t cover any of the
costs of reassignment,
those who identify as
transgender often find
themselves stuck in a
prolonged state of pre-op
limbo. According to the
National Transgender
Discrimination Survey,
transgender people are
four times more likely to
have a household income
of less than $10,000, and
47 percent report adverse
job outcomes because of
their gender association.
!
With fewer resources and
little hope for insurance to
foot the bill, more and
more people like Schad
are turning to strangers on
the Internet for help. And
their success rate is pretty
good: Our analysts
estimate that 14 percent of
“top surgery” (breast
removal) campaigns on
Indiegogo are successful,
compared with an overall
success rate of
just 10 percent for the
average campaign.
REAL LIFE
!
Campaigns for top surgery
range from intimate,
personal stories to
elaborate pitches
submitted by friends,
classmates, colleagues
and family members.
Most campaigners offer
incentives like art, music
or food. And the most
successful efforts usually
involve strong social
media and marketing
campaigns.
“Big spenders who
donate between
! September, members
$10,000 and $25,000 In the Queer Chorus at the
of
will get two real-life University of Texas took it
upon themselves to start a
campaign for their
Joseph Ovalle,
dates, one pre-op and director, identified as
who has
since
of 4.
the other post-op.” malechorusthe agevideos
The
made
Corrie Kaisal
and set up a section on
the page for Ovalle to tell
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