As I said on Bluesky, I utterly hate that the American social safety net in the 21st century seems to consist of “start a GoFundMe” campaign. But that’s where we’re at, so.

My friend Emily Dare is very much in need of help. To recap what I say over on the campaign: she has been largely out of work since January 2025, despite continual job-hunting; the contract that was supposed to give her financial security for a year or two was canceled after only a few months, and a six-month contract with another company was canceled before it began. She has burned through all her savings, and a recent surgery has left her with post-operative cognitive dysfunction — a condition that will pass, but until it does, she isn’t able to look for a job (or adequately perform one if she got it).

To add something I didn’t say there: yeah, I’m pretty convinced that 1) if she were not a trans woman and 2) she were willing to use AI to spam her resume out to every possible job posting, she would have gotten a position before now. (This isn’t just me speculating; it’s based on how things have gone for colleagues of Em’s.)

She is currently pursuing state disability insurance for support, but it’s taking longer to go through than expected, and in the interim, she needs support for the basic necessities of life: rent, food, and medical care. The first day of the GoFundMe has gotten us to the initial goal, which didn’t actually cover everything but was enough to prevent outright drowning; now we’re working on reaching the point where she’ll actually have her expenses covered.

This is literally a situation of “please help make sure my friend who is recovering from surgery doesn’t become homeless.” (Along with her cat.) So if you’re able to contribute, know that both she and I will be unspeakably grateful; whether you’re in a position to do that or not, signal-boosting would be enormously helpful. I have a post up on Bluesky and one on Mastodon; I am unfortunately not on other social media like Facebook or Instagram. Reposting those, or making a post of your own, will help spread the word.

And apart from that, let’s work on rebuilding this country into a place where a trans woman with incredibly vital tech skills isn’t in danger of being on the street and has to rely on internet fundraising to keep a roof over her head.