How To Support The Sexually Marginalized During the Pandemic

From mutual-aid networks to OnlyFans, there’s a lot the average person can do to help queer and trans people of color stay afloat

- Ashlee Marie Preston

Within the first 72 hours of California’s “Safer at Home” order, four of my bookings were postponed or canceled. As a freelancer whose income largely depends on keynotes, panels, speaking engagements and appearances, I hunkered down and prepared to take this economic ass-whooping like a champ. Creators, independent contractors, exotic laborers and gig workers understand all too well that momentum is a precarious force. Sometimes you run into a speed bump. There should be a whole section on this entitled “Feast or Famine” in our unofficial orientation guide.

I toggled between social media platforms to get a general sense of what other freelancers were experiencing. As expected, I read several tweets that hinted at livelihood disruption.

It was also no surprise that the low-income, disabled (including the mute and hearing-impaired), immunocompromised, undocumented, and black and brown queer and trans folk were disproportionately impacted by the outbreak. Many of us were trapped in the throes of socioeconomic disparity long before the country found itself in the clutches of COVID-19.

Food insecurity, scarcity of financial resources and a lack of affordable housing have always been pervasive presences in our lives. Most of us have never trusted top-down government solutions to meet us at our point of need. We’ve always relied on one another, our allies/accomplices and grassroots efforts to pull us through times of crisis.