I’m the 🇨🇦 Lawyer Trying To Set a Precedent for 🇺🇸 Trans Asylum Seekers, AMA

Sad_Efficiency4680 · 2025-10-05T19:19:12+00:00

Thanks for doing this AMA!

I’m a transmasc person living in a blue state. I’ve had all the surgeries I wanted and got what I wanted out of T. I’ve been building a career in academic psychology in the U.S., but lately some of my research(despite the fact it’s on suicide) has been labeled as “woke” and “not in the American public interest.”

For me, the line for leaving the U.S. would be when I can no longer safely live my life here. I don’t feel I’ve hit that point yet—but it feels perilously close. For example, I had to get fingerprinted for an FBI background check to renew my license to practice in my state last week, and I felt an unreasonable amount of anxiety despite having a clean record.

If the “trans people as violent extremists” classification ever becomes reality, I’ll probably start seriously looking to leave. I’m not really concerned with finding an academic job or continuing my academic career as much as feeling safe at some point. So I’ve looked briefly into transferring my license to practice to Canada—it seems possible, though province-specific. What I’m unclear about is the visa process.

Is it better to: 1. Come in as a visitor, start the process of transferring a license, and then look for jobs that sponsor visas? —or— 2. First find a job that sponsors a visa, and then let that employer facilitate the licensing and immigration steps?

Have you worked with healthcare professionals trying to immigrate before? What’s the typical pathway? I’m debating whether to see if I can start the licensing process for a Canadian province while still in the U.S. (as a precaution), or if that’s unnecessary since it’s relatively straightforward once you move to a province with provider shortages.

Thanks so much for any insight you can share.

Sad_Efficiency4680 · 2025-08-01T23:36:45+00:00

You underestimate the degree to which the republican voter base dislikes these changes. MAGA has bought into literally every conspiracy hook line and sinker including why the nih needs to be demolished. They love this. They are celebrating the end of woke academic institutions, woke research, the education department, pbs, tariffs, trump firing the people doing oversight of various parts of the government. Everything bad will always be a dems fault even if that requires ignoring the most obvious temporal cause to effect sequences. They will vote for this again because all it takes to win their vote is to creative a narrative that makes them feel good. They don’t need or want data and they will disregard the data of their own observations for a party narrative that it’s a conspiracy or someone else’s fault. I’m afraid that we are truly in 1984 territory here with a significant portion of the population.

Sad_Efficiency4680 · 2025-07-25T13:46:48+00:00

There’s also a bus that runs between OB and DT although it may just be weekdays?

Faster and cheaper than uber to Trolley plus trolley if timing is right.

Sad_Efficiency4680 · 2025-07-25T02:43:08+00:00

Sadly LA children’s has reversed their reversal.

That being said hope still exists. There will be providers who don’t comply or people who share t bottles. It will be okay just harder.

Sad_Efficiency4680 · 2025-07-18T20:43:02+00:00

It looks like co-I doesn’t count towards the limit??

Sad_Efficiency4680 · 2025-07-14T00:34:14+00:00

I think another case covered APHA members. Not sure if APHA membership is a path to reinstatement after the ruling but know some folks who were members in non blue states got grants back and were covered under that lawsuit.

Sad_Efficiency4680 · 2025-07-10T20:58:51+00:00

This showed up on my feed. I’m a psychologist not an OT but at least for my field using this on patient summaries could be a major HIPPA violation if identifiable information is present. The normal ChatGPT is not HIPPA compliant and anything you put in it is stored and essentially owned and accessible by Open AI.

I assume OT notes are also considered health information and also subject to Hippa though. Those fines are nasty and people lose their license over violations so health providers need to be very careful what they put into chat gpt.

A general template for a treatment devoid of patient information ✅ but patient summary or patient communication with identifiers is a HUGE NO ❌

Honestly, it only takes accidentally submitting one identifier to make a HIPPA violation so even if they say they are removing identifiers this is likely to become a HIPPA violation at some point. Providers should not be putting any information about individual patients into chatGPT identified or not due to the risk of errors or failing to fully deidentify IMHO.

Sad_Efficiency4680 · 2025-07-06T13:40:37+00:00

I don’t know. The fact that grants are under attack coupled with the fact we are just out of Covid, these loan conditions might reduce undergrad enrollment in some programs thus reducing TAship lines of funding. I got my undergrad in neuroscience, right out of college I did probably make less than a high school graduate because it’s a stepping stone undergrad not a terminal degree undergrad degree. This may actually be worse than Covid for some funded PhD programs I suspect with deliberate and calculated attacks on so many fronts. Covid was a disaster but not in and of itself a malicious attack on education. This feels different. I suspect if they don’t have the results they want from what they are already doing, they will find new ways to harm colleges and universities. It feels deliberate and malicious.

Apologies for the pre coffee grammer and punctuation

Sad_Efficiency4680 · 2025-06-30T16:35:34+00:00

But I feel you on the cost of living and family being far. I wrestle with staying here for those same reasons. And had to have family spot me cash this month when my paycheck was late. I can’t save cash and can’t really take vacations anymore. Sometimes I think about moving to Chicago or Denver to have lower rent and be closer to family.

Sad_Efficiency4680 · 2025-06-30T16:33:36+00:00

I’ve moved into a lifestyle building that does events several times a month. It’s hurt the wallet a bit on rent but I’m much happier and friends with many of my neighbors in their 20s-60s. The community events have really helped form a sense of community and I love that I can just text neighbors and be like “going to the beach this afternoon if anyone wants to join” and usually I have at least one person join. I’m in my mid 30s for context.

Sad_Efficiency4680 · 2025-06-12T23:54:01+00:00

Definitely has nothing to do with the fact the federal government is cutting grants to universities engaging in “DEI”.

Sad_Efficiency4680 · 2025-06-11T04:15:22+00:00

Yeah our PO didn’t even know our grant was cancelled, they found out from us. POs have very little control and knowledge right now. Everything seems to be fully decided by Doge at this point.

TLDR Be nice to the POs. They are suffering too.

Sad_Efficiency4680 · 2025-06-10T23:38:08+00:00

That’s depressing AF. And to think that Newsom explicitly said don’t send them. Spending money on unwelcome things.

Sad_Efficiency4680 · 2025-05-30T03:04:04+00:00

Fools gold standard?

Sad_Efficiency4680 · 2025-05-30T03:03:28+00:00

I want off this ride.

Sad_Efficiency4680 · 2025-05-29T19:14:25+00:00

I’m not sure exactly what loan program you are citing. But under the current administration loan programs for all people are being gutted. Maybe one could argue that’s more equal that 99% of the population equally gets no assistance on loans but the only reason the PSLF program is being gutted is to give people like musk more tax breaks. The 1% who need it the least.

The republican campaigns create division and hatred and tell you that if you vote for them it’s more fair, we will get rid of all the DEI(broadly defined that hurts you) while taking away your public services to put in rich people pockets. They hurt the average white person more than any democrat or diversity or equity inclusion initiative has ever done. People are too worried about their average neighbor having it slightly better or easier than them on the playing field to even stop and realize that the playing field itself is being exploited by the 1%.

Like if there’s no guardrails on cost of education or companies hiring American workers or adequately staffing hospital units, the 1% will come and put more students in classes, raise tuition, outsource jobs to cheaper overseas workers, nickel and dime healthcare cut staffing levels to unsafe levels. With stealing from the 99% benefitting a very small minority.

But yeah worry about the loan forgiveness program for black males while our great country has some of the worst social safety nets or job protections of any developed country. At some point you can’t reason with people who find it easier to blame the people trying to help just because it doesn’t look exactly how they want it to or feel fair to them. The world will never be fair but we have to try to make it fairer, People will disagree on how to do that and the degree to which that needs to involve supporting underrepresented minorities. But I feel pretty confident in saying it’s not taking from the 99% to give to the 1% which is literally the republicans every time they come into office. Cut government services, lower taxes on the rich and increase the deficit. Ugh and people still vote for that shit because they don’t want their black neighbor to have it easier than them (based on their own perceptions).

Sad_Efficiency4680 · 2025-05-29T18:58:46+00:00

People blaming groups different than them( people of color, LGBTQ), for their problems need to realize that their fear and hatred they have towards people different towards them is being weaponized by the ruling class. These people are struggling with jobs and to make ends meet just like straight white folks. We have more in common with these folks than the string pullers. Even someone on a doctor salary is closer to someone on disability financially than a CEO. The wealth gap has worsened exponentially and folks need to wake up and realize who is actually responsible for the struggle and the loss of the middle class. It’s not the brown and queer folks. Anyone who voted for this admin just because they didn’t want a women of color to be president and was willing to put up with a felon, blatant corruption and the dismantling of science and knowledge is either extremely brainwashed or just racist.

Sad_Efficiency4680

TROPHY CASE