In case you’ve somehow been blissfully ignorant of Donald Trump’s Twitter feed—which these days would probably require shutting down the internet, ceasing all radio and television broadcasts, and then moving to southern Venezuela to assume a place with the Yanomami tribe—it’s been an ongoing nightmare. Recently, he made headlines worldwide by deciding (seemingly apropos of nothing and without the input of those at the Pentagon, many of whom spent nine worried minutes between two tweets thinking he had ordered a missile strike against North Korea) to prevent transgender people from serving “in any capacity in the U.S. Military.”
Setting aside reason and logic, much as Trump himself does, and therefore ignoring for the time being the fact that the military spends five times as much on Viagra as it would on transgender troops’ medical care, this is the definition of discrimination. It’s an appalling attack on a single group of people living in this country, and tolerating it should be beneath the dignity of anyone. So why not buy some music and simultaneously show your support of trans rights?
This Friday, Bandcamp will donate 100 percent of their share of every sale made to the Transgender Law Center, a nonprofit dedicated to transgender equality. From midnight to midnight, money from every album or song you purchase will go to helping noble endeavors like getting health care for trans veterans, preventing violence and abuse against incarcerated trans people, trans youth outreach and education, trans rights litigation, and more. Individual bands have done similar fund-raising through Bandcamp, and the last time the download and streaming site did a Friday donation fundraiser for the ACLU, it saw sales of $1 million in a single day. Plus, a lot of labels and artists plan to join in, donating their share of the sales as well. So pick up a little new music this Friday, and help put some money where it’s needed.