Two TikTok creators collected in six hours over $1 million for trans health care through a 30-hour “TikTok-a-Thon" fundraiser to celebrate Friday’s Transgender Day of Visibility.
Mercury Stardust and Jory, better known online as alluringskull, raised the funds for Point of Pride, a nonprofit that provides gender-affirming services to trans individuals across the world.
Stardust and Jory are both trans TikTokers with a combined following of 4.6 million on the platform. Stardust is known as the "trans handy ma'am" because of her educational home repair videos. Jory posts a variety of content about comedy, fashion and social issues.
The money raised will be used to purchase 10,000 chest binders and gaffs (undergarments that flatten the chest and genital areas, respectively), provide hormone replacement therapy and fund gender-affirming surgeries.
The livestream began on Thursday evening at 5 p.m. EST and goes until Friday evening at 11 p.m. Within six hours, the organizers reached their initial goal of $1 million, according to Stardust and Jory. The hosts, along with Point of Pride president and co-founder Aydian Dowling, have taken turns engaging with viewers throughout the continuous stream.
Dowling said he felt "disbelief and excitement" when the fundraiser hit its goal. He said the fundraiser sends a strong signal in a fraught political and cultural climate for trans people.
"It's tremendously powerful and sends a very clear message to the community and outside our community that we're valid and we're here and it's time to have a different conversation that doesn't eliminate us, but rather includes us," Dowling said.
They hope to reach $2 million by the end of the stream.
Jory, who asked to withhold her last name due to privacy concerns, said the outpouring of support for the fundraiser amid the recent uptick of anti-LGBTQ legislation shows that people care about trans rights "despite what we're hearing."
"I think being trans and being queer at a time where people are calling to eradicate us, where people are legislating against our bodies, where people do not want us to exist on principle, I think seeing a bit of joy, a bit of what our community is really about, a bit of mutual aid, knowing that there's hope for you to get those surgeries and the binders and the gaffs and the HRT you need, I think it's saving lives," Jory said.
As of Friday afternoon, the creators had reached over $1.6 million.
"This money is gonna be so impactful in a way that the trans community has never seen before," Dowling said. "And I think that this is the start. This is the momentum to a movement that is not ending anytime soon."