THE INTERNET CAN be a pretty awful place.

Nobody knows that better than LGBTQ people, and in particular, transgender people. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find a corner of the internet in which their lives and identities are not constantly up for debate. In terms of the opinions we see online, Twitter, Facebook and Youtube can often seem like a write-off, because they facilitate some pretty awful discussions.

However, one Youtuber spent more than 40 hours of his weekend reminding us that there’s still some good out there. 

hbomberguy / Youtube hbomberguy / Youtube / Youtube

Harry Brewis, who is known as ‘hbomberguy’ on Youtube has 335,000 subscribers on Youtube and on the 14th of January, he invited them all to watch a live stream of him playing Donkey Kong 64 from start to finish on streaming platform Twitch. 

Since childhood, Brewis had difficulty completing Donkey Kong 64, and so he vowed to begin his journey towards finishing the game on January 18th, at 6pm. He announced that he’d be doing it all for charity, and explained why:

All the proceeds from this stream will go to Mermaids, a charity which works to provide resources and support to young people with gender dysphoria. I chose to support this charity because, as a person living in Britain, I find the media discussions 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. I chose Mermaids in specific, because when they were designated some funding by the National Lottery, Graham Linehan (a comedy writer who did some work on a good show, um,  twenty years ago) who happens to be a normal man who happens to be very angry about trans people all day nowadays, went on Mumsnet and told them to email a lady from the National Lottery en masse, and now the funding is under review.

So, well done Graham! You have a massive audience and the power to choose to fight for progress in all of the many forms we need in the world right now and you used it to make sure some children won’t have access to helpful resources. 

 After explaining his mission, Brewis went on to explain what exactly he’d have to do in order to get a perfect 100% score on Donkey Kong 64. He said that he had no idea how long this would take to do, whether it was over 24 hours or whether he had to pause for a nap, he’d keep the live-stream running. 

When Friday evening rolled around and it was time to play Donkey Kong 64, Harry discovered that somebody had bought the web address grahamlinehan.net and made it redirect to the live-stream. It didn’t take long for the Twitch stream to gain some momentum and eventually, Harry Brewis and his viewers helped raise more than €175,000 to donate to Mermaids in order to help them get on with the very important work that they do. 

This was with the help of some celebrities who tuned in, like New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who, at the age of just 28, is currently busy changing the face of American politics. But not too busy to stop by and help a good cause. While she was speaking on Harry’s stream, she spoke about her fond memories of playing Nintendo 64 as a kid in her cousin’s house, before talking about the issues that trans people face on a day-to-day basis and why discrimination plays a huge role in economic hardship. 

If the video won’t play, click here. 

AOC wasn’t the only person of note to drop in and say hi to Harry, either. Transgender rights activist and whistleblower Chelsea Manning stopped by, as did Matilda star Mara Wilson and Chapo Traphouse podcast stars Matt Christman and Virgil Texas. 

H/T Kate Leckie

DailyEdge is on Instagram!