Abortion Activist Mocked by Matt Gaetz Given Voice of the Year Award

A young Texas activist who was once body-shamed by Florida congressman Matt Gaetz has been named one of 2022's Voices of the Year, Seventeen announced on Wednesday.

Olivia Julianna, a 20-year-old Texas abortion-rights advocate, joined the likes of entertainer JoJo Siwa and Black-ish actress Marsai Martin in making the list.

Seventeen's honorees were chosen for their dedication to some of the country's most pressing issues such as LGBTQ and reproductive rights, as well as racial and climate justice.

Seventeen highlighted Julianna's work with Texas Democrats, including Beto O'Rourke, and her abortion-rights activism. Still, Julianna's dedication apparently hasn't come without costs.

"I have lost a lot of people doing the work that I do," the activist told Seventeen. "It has negatively affected a lot of relationships I have in my life. I have family members who have essentially disowned me because I am an abortion-rights activist. I have friends from childhood who told me, point-blank, 'We are not friends anymore.'"

Julianna, who serves as the director of politics and government affairs for the advocacy group Gen-Z for Change, continued: "It's been really difficult to lose relationships. It was really hard for me to understand that when you're speaking truth to power, and when you're fighting for what you believe in, some of the people who matter to you are not going to be there."

This summer, Julianna was ultimately able to raise more than $2.2 million for abortion funds after Gaetz tried to body-shame her on Twitter. She sent a "thank you" to the Republican congressman when donations first reached $50,000 in July.

Since then, she's kept that adversarial relationship alive, tagging Gaetz in a goading October 27 tweet.

"If @mattgaetz ever ran for President, I will work with the democratic candidate to triple whatever he raises," Julianna wrote at the time. "I know it's possible because I've done it before ❤️."

Seventeen also cited Julianna's past activism in its Wednesday post.

Last year, the anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life launched a website for whistleblowers to report those suspected of aiding and abetting the procedure. Julianna encouraged her TikTok followers to flood the webpage with fake tips so that it would crash, and the site was ultimately removed.

Julianna also opened up about being a young woman who's Latina, diabetic, disabled, plus-size and queer. She said each aspect shapes the work that she does because of the "barrage of harassment" she endures.

"It happens on a daily basis, and it happens not just from normal people, but from elected officials and politicians," Julianna told Seventeen.

"Matt Gaetz is not the first prominent Republican to attack me. I've been attacked by the chairman of the Republican Party here in Texas and Jonathan Stickland, a former [state] House rep who called my sexuality 'unnatural' and told me to leave the state," she added.

She then vowed to never back down: "I'm going to stand my ground because when I was a kid, I did not see people like me speaking out. If I can be that for just one person, then I'll have done my job. You should never be ashamed of who you are."

Newsweek reached out to Gaetz's office and Gen-Z for Change for comment.