Words by Tess Becker
March 31 was International Transgender Day of Visibility and is an annual celebration of trans people around the world. A group of transgender TikTokers spent it raising money for trans healthcare in the United States.
This was the second annual ‘TikTok-a-thon for trans healthcare’ hosted by Mercury Stardust, known online as the Trans Handy Ma’am, along with another trans-TikToker, Jory, known online as alluringskull.
The event took place while the US is seeing an anti-trans legislative push.
“We believe that this is a really important time to do this work because of the anti-trans laws that have been pushed around in the country and have terrified the trans community,” Stardust told The Cap Times earlier this week. “In a time that often feels like it is hard for us to even exist publicly, it's nice to have a refreshing moment of hope.”
The original goal for the 30-hour live stream was to raise $1 million. After reaching that goal in just over six hours they expanded the goal to $2 million, and so on. At the time of writing the event raised $2,259,617 from over 58,000 donors, surpassing their goal of $2,220,000.
They collaborated with the organization Point of Pride, as well as other trans online personalities like Dylan Mulvaney to bring as much awareness and funds to the event as possible.
“[The fundraiser is] showing how we are constantly stigmatized and demonized and made to look like these terrible people,” Jory told the Times, “when in actuality we're a community of people that will band together in the darkest of times to ensure that we can take care of our own and others.”
100% of the funds will go to trans people in need, with much of the total going to the nonprofit’s HRT and surgery funds, much of which will be handled by Point of Pride to help people reach the services they need.
