Bros Helping Bros: Boston Frat Raises Thousands of Dollars for Transgender Brother's Surgery
Frat bros do lots of things that upset us. They host "racist ragers." They butt-chug fine pinot grigio. They host barbecues on Locust Walk during finals when you're trying to study OH MY GOD TURN DOWN THE MUSIC.
But sometimes they also do things that melt our hearts, like start Indiegogo funds to pay for a transgender brother's sex reassignment surgery.
Donnie Collins is a female-to-male transgender sophomore majoring in Visual & Media Arts at Emerson College. He recently became a member of the school's Phi Alpha Tau fraternity, a "communicative arts" frat whose members tend towards very liberal arts-y careers (in other words, a very Emerson frat).
Collins planned to undergo "top surgery" (a double mastectomy and chest reconstruction) this May, but learned a couple weeks ago that his school-sponsored insurance policy had rejected his claim and would not cover it.
After Collins informed his brothers of his setback, a few of them started an Indiegogo campaign to help raise money for the procedure. After quickly surpassing their initial fundraising target, which would have covered just part of the surgery, the brothers bumped up their goal to $8,100 – the full price. They've since blown by that and still have 40 days left of their campaign. They just can't stop raising money.
On Monday, the brothers posted an update on their Indiegogo page confirming they were "discussing as a brotherhood what we will do if we are able to raise more than $8,100."
Here's hoping they allocate the rest of the funds for an EPICCC RAGERRRRR. (They'll probably go with a charity, though.)
