
Music superstar Chappell Roan has announced the launch of her organization devoted to supporting trans youth.
The Midwest Princess Project — a nod to her album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess — has already raised more than $400,000 through fundraising efforts at Roan’s recent pop-up shows.
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“Those funds will be donated to incredible organizations making a positive impact for trans youth in their communities,” Roan wrote on social media when launching the project in late October.
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The post named six organizations to which it has already donated: The Ali Forney Center and The Center in New York City, the GLO Center and The Center Project in Missouri, and the TransLatin@ Coalition and Trans Wellness Center in Los Angeles.
The TransLatin@ Coalition and The Ali Forney Center are some of the first beneficiaries. The project’s website says its goal is to “uplift trans youth and LGBTQ+ communities through action, care, and connection.”
The project’s launch is in keeping with Roan’s pledge to donate a portion of ticket sales from her tour to trans organizations. During a red-carpet interview at the Grammy Awards in early February, Roan acknowledged the state of transgender rights in the U.S. in just the first month of the current presidential administration.
“It’s brutal right now,” Roan said, “but trans people have always existed, and they will forever exist, and they will never, no matter what happens, take trans joy away, and that has to be protected more than anything.”
“I would not be here without trans girls,” she added. “So, just know that pop music is thinking about you and cares about you. And I’m trying my best to stand up for you in every way that I can.”
During a live show in October, she also opened up about how she struggles with fame but that it’s all worth it to be able to spread queer joy.
She said she has questioned why she continues in her career when it makes her feel so “left out in public” and “so awkward all the time,” but that the tour helped her realize exactly why she keeps going.
“I always felt, actually, ‘Why am I putting myself through this? If this is taking so much away from me, what is this for?’ Then I started doing shows again and it all made sense, it was to literally bring queer people joy,” she said.
“There [are] so many things in the world that are so ‘F**k you’,” she continued, “and then there is this. It’s the only thing that matters is joy anymore to me, and protecting that, and peace and safety. So, I hope you know that when you are here, you are safe, and I want you here. You can be whoever you are tonight. You’re cherished for everything that you are.”
She said protecting that joy is one of the most important things, and “even if you’re not queer, I hope you know that I include you.”
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