Organizers of a series of livestreams in Madison this weekend hope to raise $4 million for transgender health care.
“Mercury & Jory’s Third Annual TikTok-A-Thon for Trans Healthcare” got its start in 2022, said co-host Mercury Stardust, who has more than 2.5 million followers on TikTok and 900,000 followers on Instagram. Stardust, who uses her 16 years of experience as a maintenance technician to help renters and others who may have never learned basic maintenance how to care for their homes, was the original host.
This year’s fundraiser will be filmed in a studio on Williamson Street in three 10-hour livestreams. The streams will go from 2 p.m. to midnight Friday, Saturday and Sunday, in part to celebrate Sunday’s International Transgender Day of Visibility.
Stardust, of Madison, is teaming up with Jory, of Los Angeles, who did not want her last name published for privacy reasons, and nonprofit Point of Pride, which works to provide health care for trans and nonbinary people.
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Stardust and Jory plan to entertain viewers, tell people how and why they should donate to the cause and discuss their personal experiences as trans and nonbinary people “to elevate how important health care is for our community,” Stardust said. People can view the streams on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Twitch.
Co-host Jory, a content creator, advocate and artist, said the hardships she faced as a trans Black woman have shaped the content she makes. She has 2.5 million followers on TikTok and 286,000 on Instagram.
Last year’s fundraiser raised more than $2 million. Stardust attributed that success to “Jory and I being fun and entertaining,” and their TikTok and Instagram following.
That fundraiser had 55,000 donors, with the average amount of money given being $37, Dowling said. The biggest donation was $2,500.
Viewers of this year’s livestreams can donate to the cause by going to shorturl.at/swxD6. From there, they can select from various donation options or make a custom donation. Viewers can make one-time or monthly donations.
Proceeds will go toward free chest binders and femme shapewear, access to permanent hair removal services, and gender-affirming surgery and hormone replacement therapy services for trans people who can’t afford it, don’t have inclusive insurance coverage or live too far away from a health care center that suits their needs, Dowling said.
“Point of Pride is one of the few organizations dedicated to this,” Jory said. “Our portion of the community doesn’t get tailored care.”
Last year's fundraiser raised more than $2 million.