Hi, I’m Jaymie.
I’m a 35-year-old trans woman from Florida, and a year ago I made a terrifying choice: I left everything behind, my fiancée Victoria, my friends, my entire life, and flew to Scotland seeking nothing more than a chance to breathe.
I came here hoping to pause, to find my footing, to wait out the storm back home. But the storm only got worse. And somewhere between my first scared steps off the plane and now, I became a woman without a country.

The truth is, I can’t go back.
The nonbinary/intersex travel ban went into effect exactly two weeks from the day I left. The way the ban reads will make it almost impossible for a trans person who has changed their gender marker to travel in or out of the country, on the basis of gender fraud. (Reference)
My passport and gender marker, legally changed by court order, is no longer recognized. And returning to the US isn’t just dangerous; it’s potentially deadly for someone like me. ICE has been instructed to specifically target trans people. If I land on American soil, I face detention in a men’s facility, imprisonment, or worse. I’ve been on HRT for years. I wouldn’t survive that.

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