Lil Nas X’s “pregnancy” is delivering national attention to a local organization. Before the release of his first album, “MONTERO,” he posted pictures of himself where he looked pregnant.
As part of the promotional campaign leading up to the release of “MONTERO,” he created a baby registry. Each song was paired with a nonprofit that is part of the Gilead COMPASS Initiative, which works to address the HIV/AIDS crisis in the southern U.S. The title track, “Montero,” was paired with South Florida’s Transinclusive Group (TIG) organization, which works to “build trust and relationships” within the trans community.
“We were humbled and grateful they chose TIG to be one of the organizations to be a part of this initiative,” Tatiana Williams told SFGN. “It has been working very well.” She didn’t know Lil Nas X had chosen the group to be part of the project until just days before. TIG’s executive director says it’s provided a windfall of money and attention. “We are receiving tremendous support from this initiative, in addition to Lil Nas X using his platform to bring awareness to HIV and the stigma that is associated with it. He’s uplifting the organizations that are doing amazing work. In addition to helping the organizations raise funds, Gilead Sciences, Inc. is matching all the funds raised from each organization up to $25,000.”
The Baby Registry touts TIG’s work to “end discrimination, mistreatment, and racial disparities in healthcare, employment, education, and housing.” Williams hopes to use the attention to keep people engaged. “Hopefully people will stay involved. It is important that everyone is involved in our global effort to end the HIV epidemic! We will keep donors abreast of the work we are doing to empower our community. We will provide them with details as to how the funds were used.”
Fans of Lil Nas X know that he is quirky and spontaneous. Given his interest in Transinclusive Group and South Florida’s strong LGBT community he could pop up here someday. Williams is hopeful. “Hopefully he will one day, he has been very generous and we are optimistic that one day he would want to lay eyes on the organizations he assisted with fundraising through this initiative.”
She co-founded TIG in 2016 and says seeing the group’s hard work start to pay off is gratifying. “We started TIG because there was a lack of representation of people doing this work who were reflective of the community they were trying to serve. We wanted to make sure our transgender and non-binary community members had access to resources and opportunities to improve their quality of life. I often tell people, when you do good work people will see it. Growth is the reward of good work.”
