ORLANDO, Fla. — After Governor Ron DeSantis signed several measures into law that affect the LGBTQ+ community, the online fundraising site GoFundMe reports there’s been a dramatic increase in the number of transgender individuals raising money to make a move out of Florida.

What You Need To Know

  • Governor Ron DeSantis signed several measures into law that affect the LGBTQ+ community

  • The online fundraising site GoFundMe says there’s been a more than 500% increase in the number of transgender individuals raising money to make a move out of Florida

  • Sage Chelf says she can no longer get estrogen from her nurse practitioner in Central Florida, so she's moving to Illinois to regain her ability to get medication she depends on

Clinics and doctor’s offices that provide gender transition care can no longer allow nurse practitioners to prescribe gender transition medications.  Without that medication, some of those patients see no other choice but to move out of Florida.

Tending to her plants is something Sage Chelf says soothes her soul.  It helped her when she was struggling with her identity a few years ago.

“I just started getting house plants and it just evolved from there,” said Chelf.  “It just gave me comfort when it seemed the world around me was pretty dark.”

As a transgender woman, Chelf was able to build a life in Orlando as her true self. But now she’s having to pack up that life.  She’s moving to Illinois in early July.

“You build a life somewhere and form relationships with people, like co-workers and friends,” said Chelf.  “It just feels like years of work being packed away along with it.”

She says she’s now rationing a few remaining estrogen pills.  She’s no longer able to get her medication through her nurse practitioner in Central Florida.

“The fact I’m not taking estrogen anymore, I just don’t have hormones flowing through my body – I’m kind of devoid of emotion – I call it semi-zombified,” said Chelf.

Chelf started an online fundraiser to help pay for her sudden move.

“Already with Orlando’s housing crisis I live paycheck to paycheck, barely,” said Chelf.

GoFundMe reports it’s had a more than 500% percent increase in the last year in trans individuals creating fundraisers to move out of Florida.

For Chelf, there is a silver lining.  She’s moving closer to her girlfriend, who she’ll be able to cook for more.

“Even though this has been very rough, we’ve been talking about the whole housewife situation because I definitely like to cook,” said Chelf.

But it’s a move she wanted to make on her own timetable.  Now, she’ll have to find a new job in a new place - after leaving a job she enjoys at her apartment complex along with coworkers she’s become friends with.

“I haven’t even left yet and they miss me,” said Chelf.

Her flight out of florida is on July 4th.

“The day I’m escaping the state that’s taking away my civil freedoms is the same day I’m supposed to be celebrating them,” said Chelf.