Here Is How We Do the 2023 ‘Trans Rights Readathon’
Read trans books and support trans people
From March 20 to 27, we — “all the cool bookish kids on the internet” — will be reading and discussing books by trans authors and donating to trans organizations. I’ll blog here on Medium about the books I read. I started a little online fundraising pool for the Transgender Law Center, and I’ll keep the fundraiser open until March 31.
If this sounds neato to you, please read on to see how it’s going to work. Then you’ll recognize it when you spot other cool kids on the internet doing the thing.
What It Is and How It Works
The readathon was recently declared by Sim Kern.
Relatedly, I read two of Sim’s beautiful books in 2020 and 2022.
By now, over a thousand fabulous people have committed to read and share books by trans authors during the week of March 20, 2023.
You Too Can Read Books by Trans Authors
To find books by trans authors, search the readathon’s hashtag on your social media platform of choice (e.g., on Twitter or here on Medium), consult the readathon’s list of free ebooks, or check out curated lists of books by trans authors, which could include the past 35 years of Lambda Literary’s award winners and finalists. Your local library or independent bookstore may have a transgender list or section, and your librarian or bookseller would probably be psyched to help you with this.
Please remember that not every trans person wants their gender publicly noted, discussed, or advertised. Even if someone is “out” in some contexts, they may prefer not to brand themselves as a “trans author.” Look up author bios and other publicly available hints to see if the author has shared any identity labels, parts of their life story, or current pronouns. This can help you avoid guessing someone’s gender incorrectly or inadvertently outing where they’ve been, where they’re going, and whether they want to be known as a “trans author” right now. Lots of people are comfortable gathering under this umbrella, and they tend to find their own ways to message it.
Please: Donate If You Can
Trans people face unprecedented legal assaults in the United States right now. So, as part of this visibility/education campaign, we’re raising money for trans organizations.
I’m encouraging you to donate to the Transgender Law Center, a U.S. trans-led organization that advocates for everyone’s freedom “to define themselves and their futures.” They describe their work as “grounded in legal expertise and committed to racial justice.”
I’ve set up a PayPal fundraiser for this readathon which I hope will reach my goal of $100 for the Transgender Law Center. PayPal will send the funds to the organization. My fundraiser will be open for two weeks (through March 31).
If you don’t use PayPal or if for whatever reason you’d rather give to the Transgender Law Center directly, on your own schedule at any time, that’s great too! I just won’t know about your donation if you give some other way.
Read, Discuss, and Amplify Trans Books
- Use the hashtag #transrightsreadathon on social media — or the topic Trans Rights Readathon here on Medium.
- Buy a book by a trans author.
- Read a book by a trans author.
- Write a positive book review of a book by a trans author. This could be one thing you learned or one quotable sentence.
- If you don’t know what to say about the book, it’s OK to just link to it. That gives the author/publisher SEO joy.
- Lurking supportively in the background is fine — or you can sign up for the readathon as a reader/fundraiser like me.
If you’re interested in my 2022 novel, Most Famous Short Film of All Time, please feel assured that it counts for the Trans Rights Readathon. Maybe someday it will be famous. Unfortunately, it isn’t in any libraries yet, but if you can’t afford to buy it and you need a free copy, request the ebook through Edelweiss or ask me for an EPUB or PDF.
That’s All For Now
Just read trans books and share what you’re learning, keep an eye out for my posts here on Medium, donate to trans orgs, and support trans people and our rights. If you do it the week of March 20, you get to say you participated in a readathon!
