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If you’ve been paying attention to the news lately, you know there’s been a flood of anti-trans legislation, bans of trans books, and a disturbing increase in anti-trans rhetoric recently.
In response, Sim Kern, author of Depart, Depart! and Seeds for the Swarm, is hosting a Trans Rights Readathon next week!
This is a decentralized fundraiser, which means you can raise money for any trans organization or individual you’d like. You can participate by signing up at the Google Form — this way they can track how many books were read and how much money they raised by the end of the readathon!
Then, decide which trans organization you want to raise money for. Sim Kern suggests the Trans Health Legal Fund, a local trans shelter, or a friend raising money for gender-affirming surgery, as just a few options. You can pledge to donate a certain amount per book or pages read and ask friends and family to match it, and you can also optionally set up a fundraising page.
Then, grab some books by trans authors and start spreading the word! Use the hasthag #TransRightsReadathon on all social media platforms. The readathon began on BookTok, but it’s picking up steam on Bookstagram, Book Twitter, and BookTube, too.
TRANS RIGHTS READATHON!
March 20-27, all the cool bookish kids on the internet are reading books by trans authors and raising money for trans orgs. 50 booktokkers have already signed on. Do you want to join? Of course you do! Here’s how 🧵— Sim Kern (@sim_kern) March 9, 2023
There are now at least 450 people signed up!
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Sim has clarified in later tweets that the readathon is meant to be about books by out trans authors, including non-binary authors. Please don’t promote books by cis authors (even if they have trans characters) under the hashtag, and also don’t out any authors who don’t publicly state that they are trans.
You can also check out this post from 2021: 20 Must-Read Adult Books by Trans & Genderqueer Authors.
So sign up for the readathon, start using the #TransRightsReadathon hashtag on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and more, boost other #TransRightsReadathon posts, donate to some worthy causes, and use your reading to make a difference!
