Thread by @EntrancingStars

The Tenacious Unicorn Ranch, my home for 2 years and current squatters in my legally owned house are unfortunately nothing more than a glorified cult.

It was only through my marital explosion that I left the property and was forced to take off the rose colored glasses

(1/17)

The meme above is of my own creation and amusingly reflects the relationship of Penny and I behind the scenes

I ran finances and can say without question that the "ranch" makes NO money

The animals, which I see weren't shorn this year, are a massive money sink

(2/17)

I can tell you that not a single donation gets stored and saved for it's intended purpose

It's largely used to continue feeding the animals and the occasional "meal" out with the family

We were barely afloat and I always fought with Penny over fundraising transparency

(3/17)

One example was an attempted GoFundMe for something like $500k which I was able to talk Penny down from and split up into phases to show we accomplished something with the money donated

Which we lied about completing phase 1 because former residents left their trailers

(4/17)

Speaking of further residents, I don't think a single one left on good terms

The only one I can think of is my ex who happened to feel more guilty about what happened to us than understand how what we did didn't actually help people

The Ranch is more harmful than good

(5/17)

Though most that left had more personal beef it leads to the greater issue

Penny insisted to me several times that the ranch is NOT a crisis center

But I have learned in my work with the community that in order to help trans people in crisis, you MUST be a crisis center

(6/17)

We are all in crisis, and I can say that's true about all the members of the ranch (I'm not about to make this personal though)

Trauma Informed is something the ranch is not

The poor trans masc couple that we "helped" ended up leaving while accusing them of Ableism

(7/17)

I tried my best to help them but my personal life was in it's own crisis

My spouse turned against me for bringing in someone to audition for helping the ranch

I brought @KindKinkster in for their expertise in Trauma and Project Management. Two fields we were failing in

(8/17)

We had no idea how to handle people's trauma. We certainly tried but failed often. Creating rifts and bad blood

You can't save everyone

Became something of a motto surprisingly early on. But it's for the best since providing housing is inherently an abusive relationship

(9/17)

Room and board isn't free. It cost us a ton and we needed to get something of value from residents in order to continue functioning

We tried many models to get this to work but in the end it only created a class system. Residents, renters, rescues... pets (kink)

(10/17)

I've learned that the best way to help house people is through giving them the skills and connections to fund their own housing. This can include chasing down health diagnoses that qualify for disability since there is a large overlap between trans and disabled folks

(11/17)

We all need direction

Volunteers would show up eager to help and interact with the animals but would have to settle for a tour and mediocre petting zoo experience

We barely knew what we were doing most days, breaking our bodies convincing ourselves that it would help

(12/17)

We deluded ourselves in the cause. Selling it as hope, but offering no solutions

The most valuable thing we offered was a promotion of self arming within the trans community. But it's becoming creepily para militaristic in my absence

Ran entirely by veterans now

(13/17)

Veterans mentioned only to lay out the environment that is being built. Exposed in their battalion and brigade Twitter accounts. Much like our appearance on AJ+ taken as a template

We may be amidst civil war but it's being fought in a more sophisticated battlefield

(14/17)

Yes we must defend ourselves, yes we should be just as armed as those looking to eliminate us from existence. But that includes the weapons of cultural change

What Penny is doing now is dangerous

And I can't be happier to not be a part of it

(15/17)

Since leaving the ranch I have spoken to former founders, residents, volunteers and guards. All questioning the ranch's work after their involvement

Stories ranging from confusion of decision-making to claimed and confirmed abuses

The ranch is hurting people

(16/17)

They want to do too much and ultimately accomplish a net negative.

Stop being a ranch, it's an abject failure

Stop providing housing, it's inescapably abusive

And for gods' sake stop posting your crimes online

Do not fund the ranch

(17/17)