what would you be fleeing from exactly, if you don't mind me asking

@GazDownright Loss of rights/bodily autonomy, potentially including access to hormone replacement and surgery, public bathrooms, government ID, jobs (via revocation of government ID), incarceration, etc.

@JessicaEvans sounds like quite an heavy shift. from outside the US we only hear "only two genders in newly issued passports" and "trans women can't compete alongside biological women"

@GazDownright Quite a lot else is going on, albeit mostly at the state level for now. Trans healthcare was removed from Medicaid in the recent congressional bill. Texas made it a felony to use ID with updated gender markers in any interaction with the state. Multiple states have passed transgender healthcare bans that extend past the age of 18, which is the legal age of adulthood in the US. Bathroom bans are common as well.

@JessicaEvans could you show me where Texas did that? I looked and couldn't find it 😬, all I saw was the state govt not issuing IDs

@MarySmith https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/texas-bill-identify-transgender-state-felony-rcna195642

@JessicaEvans thank you! It looks like it's still in committee, and NBC said it's unlikely to go anywhere https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB3817

@MarySmith That's good. But the rate and severity of such bills has been increasing. It's hard not to view criminalization as inevitable.

@JessicaEvans Can't even start to imagine how that must be like.

Hope things get better for you. Gotta make that bag tho.

How financially well off are you? Do you rely heavily for emotional support on your family and friends who presumably are all in the US? Hope it goes ok 🙏

@TheAllMemeingEye I have $30k in savings and $90k in student loan debt. I make take home pay of $42k a year in the bay area.

@JessicaEvans is US student loan debt like UK student loan debt in that, rather than you having to pay up by a due date or bailiffs take all your stuff like with a regular loan, instead small regular payments are automatically taken out of your wages above a certain income as if it's just an extra tax and if it's not paid off by a certain age it gets written off?

@TheAllMemeingEye Not quite. There's a monthly payment. If you don't pay a certain number of them it can default, in which case you will be in a garnishment situation.

@JessicaEvans garnishment? I'm assuming that isn't related to culinary garnishes lol, does it mean bankruptcy or similar?

@TheAllMemeingEye It means money is taken directly from paychecks.

Do you mind sharing what state you are in and what country you'd go to? Knowing if you've lived in that country before would also make a difference

@AlexanderTheGreater I have no idea. If I went with him it would be Ireland. Without, I would probably just bounce around for a year until I figured out a visa and a job somewhere, most likely Ireland or Spain, possibly Germany.

@JessicaEvans what's your relationship with your boyfriend currently like? Do you love him?

@JessicaEvans IMO Berlin is extremely cool and had lots to do. It's also getting more international. I visited last year for the first time in over a decade and had waiters on occasion who didn't speak German. I love it getting that international. That said I keep hearing that it's hard to make friends in Germany as an adult.

@SimoneRomeo I do love him. But he views our relationship increasingly as one of a caretaker, of having to manage me.

@JessicaEvans thanks! Have you been regretting about your previous relationships once they ended?

@SimoneRomeo I've only been in two relationships, and the first one ended amiably when we drifted apart due to geographical distance.

@JessicaEvans how much do you feel you need to be in a relationship to be happy? Are you afraid you won't find another partner in the near future?

@SimoneRomeo I have no desire for another partner