I started streaming on Twitch during the pandemic. Surprise! I didn’t mean to, but well, I did it as a joke and now I’m a small streamer. And I started streaming an asymmetric survival horror game called Dead by Daylight. I made a lot of new friends doing that, and I invited a lot of old friends to come and play with me, either one stream or off. One of those friends was Stevie – or as some people knew him, Steve.
Steve and I worked together for nearly six years, some time after I published my first book and decided I wanted a day job that would let me write. I’m still not sure that worked, but Steve and I became the best of nerdy friends. We played in two different TTRPGs together, geeked out over Dr Who, and to this day I still have his Dalek alarm clock because it scared his cat too much for him to keep it.
Steve was a trans man. And I guess I had the privilege of knowing this early before most. I knew when he first started wondering about it. I know that he briefly considered the name Angus. I may be partially responsible for him opting not to use it, but probably not. And I was looking forward to meeting the man he was becoming when lockdown ended.
“Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?”
– Terry Pratchett – Going Postal
With the blessing of Stevie’s family, I am going to be doing a 12 hour livestream of Dead by Daylight on the 4th of December, from 4PM AEDT, raising money for Transgender Victoria. I hope you can join me. I will be playing the character he gravitated to – Steve Harrington from Stranger Things, who as of November 2021, is no longer available for purchase in the game. Steve was laid to rest today, on the last day of Transgender Awareness Week and International Men’s Day. The 4th of December was also Steve’s birthday. He would have been 33. Every donation to Transgender Victoria of AUD $2 or over is tax deductible if you file an Australian tax return, and any made during my stream will be is eligible to enter the livestream giveaways of prizes donated by the community. Current prizes include:
- An A5 watercolour portrait of Steve by Jesse Phoenix
- A copy of F2M the boy within by Hazel Edwards and Ryan Kennedy
- 2 copies of Dead by Daylight
I would love to have you all around to celebrate Stevie’s life with me, and hopefully raise some money for a good cause. If you knew Stevie and would like to join the stream to chat, remember, laugh and probably cry, please let me know. If you’re a gamer or streamer who would like to play, I welcome the company. I find Dead by Daylight to be a game best played with friends. Priority will be given to Stevie’s family and friends, then trans gamers, and then queer gamers in that order, but I do hope to have everyone around who wants to be. If you’re willing to host the stream, raid the stream or promote it to anyone you think might be interested, that would be amazing.
If you’re interested in being part of the stream, I have an explainer document at bit.ly/StevieByDaylight. You can also click here to go directly to the organisational sheet.
If this post has raised any issues for you please consider reaching out to:
Australia:
- Lifeline – 13 11 14
- Rainbow Door – 1800 729 367
USA:
- The Trevor Project – (866) 488-7386
- Trans Lifeline – (877) 565-8860
UK:
- Mermaids – 0808 801 0400
- Switchboard – 0300 330 0630
