Also.Also.Also: Queer Teen Olivia Julianna Bit Back at Matt Gaetz’s Bullying By Raising $600k for Abortion Funds, Iconic

Feature image via Olivia Julianna

I had a really great today. Can I just say that?

Queer as in F*ck You

Matt Gaetz Body-Shamed a Teen Activist Olivia Julianna — Who Then Launched a Fundraiser for Abortion Rights. Far right Republican Representative Matt Gaetz from Florida, most famous to those who casually follow politics for allegedly being involved in a sex trafficking scandal and also all around awful person (I feel comfortable saying that on the official record) said this weekend about abortion rights activists while speaking at Turning Point USA Student Action Summit, “why is it that the women with the least likelihood of getting pregnant are the ones most worried about abortions? Nobody wants to impregnate you if you look like a thumb… These people are odious from the inside out. They’re like 5’2”, 350 pounds, and they’re like ‘Give me my abortions or I’ll get up and march and protest.'”

When she heard about Matt Gaetz’s speech, Olivia Julianna, a queer Chicana teen activist from Texas, responded online, tweeting to her almost 190,000 Twitter followers “I’m actually 5’11. 6’4 in heels… I wear them so small men like you are reminded of your place.”

The resulting back-and-forth between them, as a representative of congress bullied a literal teenager online, ended in Julianna raising more than $600k for abortion funds. The name of this section of our news roundup comes from the phrase “not gay as in happy, but queer as in fuck you” — and I have never seen a better embodiment than in this moment. You did that shit, hermanita.

The whole, and absolute, fuck!?!? GOP Lawmaker Attended Gay Son’s Wedding 3 Days After Voting Against Same-Sex Marriage. “The gay son of Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., got married on Friday. A few days earlier, his father voted against the Respect for Marriage Act.”

NHS to Close Tavistock Child Gender Identity Clinic

This is good, more of this. Judge Says 10-Year-Old Girl Can Rejoin Softball Team in Blow to Transgender Sports Ban

Fat Trans People Are Having Their Lives Put On Hold Because of Devastating Medical Fatphobia. BMI’s are fatphobic, racist, and prove nothing. Thanks for coming to my class discussion.

💯 This is absolutely a fact. I Can’t Shut Up About Keke Palmer.

Wait no let’s run it back, because y’all are not hearing me IT IS KEKE “KEEP A BAG” PALMER IN THIS HOUSE 24/7/FOREVER.

Saw This, Thought of You

How to Dismantle Systemic Ableism, According to Disabled People.

And related to that, Dept. Of Labor Hosts Dialogue on Long COVID in the Workplace, lets hope this important step is only the beginning!

Does the COVID Vaccine Really Affect Your Period? This opened up quite a conversation in our workplace! The sum total of it being: even if it did, it was worth it.

Happy Beyoncé Eve to all who celebrate (it’s me, I’m who celebrates): Beyoncé Dedicates New Album Renaissance to Her Gay Uncle Jonny

Hawaii Has No Girls in Juvenile Detention. Here’s How It Got There.

Political Snacks

A Record Number of Trans and Nonbinary People Are Running for Office

And One Last Thing

Bring BG Home.

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Carmen Phillips

Carmen Phillips is Autostraddle's former editor in chief. She began at Autostraddle in 2017 as a freelance team writer and worked her way up through the company, eventually becoming the EIC from 2021-2024. A Black Puerto Rican feminist writer with a PhD in American Studies from New York University, Carmen specializes in writing about Blackness, race, queerness, politics, culture, and the many ways we find community and connection with each other.  During her time at Autostraddle, Carmen focused on pop culture, TV and film reviews, criticism, interviews, and news analysis. She claims many past homes, but left the largest parts of her heart in Detroit, Brooklyn, and Buffalo, NY. And there were several years in her early 20s when she earnestly slept with a copy of James Baldwin’s “Fire Next Time” under her pillow. To reach out, you can find Carmen on Twitter, Instagram, or her website.

Carmen has written 716 articles for us.

5 Comments

  1. The gay marriage bill is on even shakier ground than it already was on apparently after Manchin finally agreed to do something and worked with Majority Leader Schumer on a climate, tax and health care bill compromise.

    According to GOP Sen. Collins, it’s going to be harder to convince Republicans to back gay marriage because they feel duped since they thought the bill was dead and that negotiations had seized. Anyhow, it’s definitely not going to be voted on before the summer recess, all focus has to be on this bill. It’s going to be a miracle if they manage to actually pass this climate/tax/healtcare bill with covid, the time crunch and a possible Sinema road block. I hope they do since this possibly killed the small hope we had of getting ten republicans to back the gay marriage bill.

    Politics is petty.

  2. Yes, Carmen, pleeease do say you had a good day. We love to hear it! We *need* to hear it. More good days for all queers, please!

    And thanks for the good Olivia $600k news. HELL yeah.

  4. The closure of the Gender Identity Clinic here in England is actually probably a good thing for trans people, trans advocates have been calling for its total overhaul for some time as it hasn’t been fit for purpose. Obviously TERFs are celebrating it but conveniently missing out the fact that it’s being closed to (hopefully) facilitate the opening of more, better clinics… See statement here https://genderedintelligence.co.uk/latest/closureofgids-280722

  5. 💥Olivia Julianna FTW!!! 💯💓

    OJ: I don’t think I’ve ever said this in an interview but I grew up obsessed with professional wrestling and WWE and I truly believe that my comeback ability and my confidence in times of arguments or attacks 100% comes from years of watching WWE and scripted conflict.

Comments are closed.