Is This The Country You Grew Up In?

Most of us have flown it... but now the designer of our flag and U.S. Navy veteran is fleeing the United States because of bigotry and hatred.

Trans flag creator attempts to flee US over rising transphobia and ‘nasty laws’

The creator of the trans flag, Monica Helms, is attempting to flee the ‘unsafe’ United States.

Sep 08, 2025

By Amelia Hansford

Pink News

The US Navy veteran announced she and her wife plan to leave their home in Marietta, Georgia, over growing anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in the US under president Donald Trump.

Since 2023, US state legislatures have proposed at least 1,647 anti-LGBTQ+ bills ranging from gender-affirming care bans to LGBTQ+ school curriculum censorship, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). 604 bills have been proposed since January 2025 alone.

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Helms, 74, famously created the transgender Pride flag in 1999. The flag was first flown at a Pride parade in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2000. The veteran also served in the US Navy between 1970 and 1978 and served aboard two submarines during her career.

There have been a couple of trans people fleeing to Costa Rica, I know of two who have, there seems to be a growing Trans Community there. Rough Draft Atlanta writes,

“Initially we started out thinking that we could move to a blue state, but now, the way things are going and what’s happening in Los Angeles, even a blue state doesn’t seem safe,” Helms told Georgia Voice, referring to the mass arrests and deployment of the National Guard at protests against ICE’s mass deportations.

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After visiting Costa Rica last month, Helms and Wagner decided the country – which has an inclusive legal landscape and protections for LGBTQ+ people, as well as no military – would make a safer home for them. Costa Rica has legal same-sex marriage and anti-discrimination protections and allows trans people to have accurate identity documents and seek gender-affirming care.

“In May, we went and visited Costa Rica for about six days, and we fell in love with it. It’s a beautiful place with great people,” Helms said. “We said, ‘Okay, this is where we need to move to, but we don’t have sufficient funds to do that.”

According to Immigration Expert, Costa Rica has;

In recent weeks, our team at Immigration Experts Costa Rica has received an increasing number of calls from trans individuals in the U.S.—people who feel cornered, unsafe, and exhausted. They’re not fleeing; they’re seeking dignity. A life where their gender identity isn’t debated in courtrooms or targeted by legislation. A life where they can simply be.

Costa Rica offers that life.

Here, you can marry the person you love. You can walk through your neighborhood without fear. You can breathe fresh air and wake up to the sounds of toucans and waves—not sirens or protests.

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You Deserve to Feel Safe. You Deserve to Be Free.

We know how heavy things feel right now. If you’re looking for options, we want you to know that there is another way forward—and we’re here to walk it with you.

Whether you’re a trans person feeling unsafe in your home state, a same-sex couple planning to build a future together, or simply someone looking for a place where peace and freedom coexist—Costa Rica is ready to welcome you.

What do this say about our country with people fleeing because of human rights abuses?