Friday marked Trans Day of Visibility, a day dedicated to celebrating the transgender community and raising awareness about the discrimination they face.
A Wisconsin TikTok star used her platform to raise $1 million for trans healthcare.
Mercury Stardust is a transgender woman in Wisconsin who tapped into her 2.3 million followers for good on TikTok. She is working with another content creator and transgender woman, Jory.
Together they are doing a 30-hour live TikTok-a-thon to raise money for trans healthcare through a non-profit called Point of Pride.
They hit their goal of $1 million within six hours, and now they are shooting for another million.
Mercury is known on social media as Trans Handy Ma'am and shares her years of experience as a maintenance technician.
"We are supporting each other. We are loving each other. We are living the true human spirit of community," Jory said.
"I hope we get a lot of attention because we deserve it. The trans community deserves hope and happiness right now," Mercury said in a recording after they hit the $1 million mark.
Last year, Mercury raised more than $24,000 in 24 hours.
"She just feels an incredible amount of responsibility. She has also overcome a lot of adversity in her life. And she doesn't want anybody to ever have to go through the things that she's gone through. She wants everybody to feel supported. She wants people to feel valued," said Maggie Conrad, Mercury's business partner.
"We're all just emotional. It feels very surreal," Conrad said about the outpouring of support.
The timing is intentional with the 30-hour fundraiser falling on Trans Day of Visibility.
"Mercury picked this day because we wanted trans people to see all of this joy on a day made to celebrate and platform us. It's incredible," Jory said.
The team raised $1.6 million as of 6 p.m. Friday.
The 30-hour TikTok-a-thon ends at 10 p.m. Friday.
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