Bravo Fleet
It is once again Pride Month here at Bravo Fleet—which you likely know from our annual shift in icon colors on Discord. This is a time of year not just to reflect upon the struggles of LGBTQIA2S+/Queer folks around the world, but also to take action to help make their futures brighter. Remember that the first pride was a riot against the police for the criminalization of homosexual conduct, after all. Being an ally (whether you’re queer yourself or not) means taking active steps to support marginalized folks where you can.
There are lots of forms that your support can take, and one of those is financial support. Trans kids are especially vulnerable to ongoing legislative efforts in the United States and elsewhere, and fighting their oppression is the mission of Trans Formations. They are accomplishing this by creating a database of legislation to help activists mobilize to challenge dangerous new laws. Here’s what they say about themselves:
The Trans Formations Project is a small, grassroots 501(c)(4) nonprofit dedicated to tracking and educating about the anti-trans legislative crisis currently sweeping the United States.
Our database is the only resource we know of to effectively compile all information about bills that threaten transgender people and bills that could help transgender people, as well as compile full contact information for all representatives relevant to such bill proposals. We are committed to compiling this information in a single place in order to shorten the path from information to action on behalf of constituents, and empower individuals to make tangible change in the fight for transgender rights. In addition to our continuously-updating database, we also are investing in writing and educating about these bills and broader transgender issues in the United States.
How does Bravo Fleet fit in? Well, I’m glad you asked! This announcement is really just signal boosting an offer made by one of the most well-respected Star Trek artists on the internet, Pundus, who has offered to create a custom render of a stock Federation starship found in Star Trek: Online for anyone who donates to the Trans Formations Project. He explains the terms of his offer here in this Tweet. Pundus rendered dozens of shots of ships for the promotional posters sent out for Seasons 2 and 3 of Star Trek: Picard, and he’s very talented. You can see examples of his work on his Twitter.
We have one further incentive for Bravo Fleet members:
Any member who donates to the Trans Formations Project and commissions an image from Pundus of one of their commands will have their image tweeted out on our Twitter and posted on our Instagram, with a direct link to your command as a shout-out once the Fleet Action is over. We will also send out another announcement once Pride Month is over with a summary of everyone’s images. We normally avoid directly promoting the work of individual members to avoid the appearance of favoritism, so this is truly a unique opportunity. Just post the image you receive in #graphics-showcase on Discord once it’s complete.
Note: Pundus’s offer is only for Federation ships available on Star Trek: Online.