Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) Dropped in to a ‘Donkey Kong 64’ Benefit Twitch Stream to Help Raise Funds for Transgender Children

Freshman House Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) stopped by the Twitch stream of a Donkey Kong 64 benefit marathon run by YouTube star Hbomberguy, a.k.a. Harry Brewis over the weekend.

In launching the marathon, Brewis hoped to raise money for the UK transgender charity Mermaids, a charity that assists transgender children and young people. As of this posting, the marathon’s stream was reportiing that $341,670.00 had been raised.

Brewis made the announcement of the benefit marathon in a YouTube video last week:

Said Brewis: “I chose to support [Mermaids] because as a person living in Britain, I find the media discussion surrounding this issue in my country, especially in its tabloids, to be woefully misinformed. I’d like to do my bit to help support the people who do the hard work of contributing to people’s thinking on an important issue.”

Brewis said he also chose to support Mermaids because of the anti-trans writing of Graham Linehan, a British sitcom writer who recently told the public to oppose Mermaids after news broke that the charity would be receiving a substantial donation from the Big Lottery Fund, a grant-making organization which gets its funds from tickets sold in the National Lottery.

Linehan had written that Mermaids pushes an “extreme ideological agenda” and took an “experimental” and “non-evidence-based” approach to trans and gender nonconforming children.

Ocasio-Cortez, who has been lauded for her savvy on Twitter and other social media platforms, stopped by the stream to offer her support at the 52-hour mark. She had tweeted about the benefit earlier in the day on Sunday.

If you’d like to use this as a good moment to support the queer community, there’s a charity twitch stream going on for @Mermaids_Gender: https://t.co/vCvvqRhAwb

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 20, 2019

Turns out Ocasio-Cortez was familiar with the classic Nintendo system, commenting on the stream: “I never owned a N64 but I used to go to my cousin’s house all the time and she had Super Mario 64Pokemon Snap, and probably a handful of other things.”

Here’s @aoc talking about how Nintendo 64 was the best system. She’s on @twitch helping to raise money for trans kids. pic.twitter.com/cJIfUif1mv

— New Super Blood Wolf Moon Bros. U Deluxe (@GenePark) January 20, 2019

Ocasio-Cortez also talked about trans discrimination: “It makes these issues much more acute in their crises than they usually are on average for other people. So it’s important that we do talk about these issues in the economic frame, but not let go of the fact that that discrimination is a core reason for the economic hardship.”

Here’s @aoc on @twitch talking about how trans discrimination is a “core reason” for economic hardship pic.twitter.com/JruOD5lcjM

— New Super Blood Wolf Moon Bros. U Deluxe (@GenePark) January 20, 2019

Users took notice:

You know that Twitch gamer raising money for the trans charity @Mermaids_Gender? Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez just called in and is talking about the shutdown. AOC: "Trans rights are civil rights are human rights!" https://t.co/QTfFdst0eV pic.twitter.com/aAdoUlhAW1

— Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (@Hello_Tailor) January 20, 2019

Bloody hell @AOC is a genius. Supporting trans rights on a video game livestream is something that will hit bang on with young voters while her boomer critics won’t even be able to understand what’s happening, much less know how to criticise it. https://t.co/Spi0xkvjKU

— David Rayfield (@RaygunBrown) January 20, 2019

Ocasio-Cortez also on Sunday blasted screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, who said “the new crop of young people who were just elected to Congress now need to stop acting like young people.”

Aaron Sorkin: The new crop of Dems need to "stop acting like young people" pic.twitter.com/qGZqWDpXi8

— jordan (@JordanUhl) January 20, 2019

Tweeted Ocasio-Cortez: ‘News Flash: Medicare for All & equal rights aren’t trends. When people complain about low turnout in some demos, it’s not because communities are apathetic, it’s bc they don’t see you fighting for them. If we don’t show up for people, why should you feel entitled to their vote?’

News Flash: Medicare for All & equal rights aren’t trends.

When people complain about low turnout in some demos, it’s not because communities are apathetic, it’s bc they don’t see you fighting for them.

If we don’t show up for people, why should you feel entitled to their vote? https://t.co/oGRsG9NZV3

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 20, 2019

The post Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) Dropped in to a ‘Donkey Kong 64’ Benefit Twitch Stream to Help Raise Funds for Transgender Children appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

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