The trans Twitch star delivering news to a legion of LGBTQ teens

For over a year after she first joined Twitch, Clara Sorrenti used the streaming platform like most of its users: to broadcast herself playing video games for a handful of viewers.

But when Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas, launched a campaign against gender-affirming care for young people, it struck a nerve with Sorrenti, who transitioned as a teenager. The 28-year-old took to Twitch, talking openly about her experience in hours-long streams.

Now, Sorrenti is one of the most popular openly trans streamers on Twitch, amassing over 3,000 subscribers as of May, who pay $4.99 per month to support her streams. She is part of a new class of stars who have abandoned the platform’s traditional game-stream format to talk about news and politics. This cohort of creators, who have embraced the Just Chatting category, have emerged as pundits for a generation disconnected from cable news.