Also.Also.Also: Bill Cosby’s Out and Britney’s Forced to Stay In, This Week Sucks

I saw someone call today, “Happy Long Weekend Eve” and you know what? I’m into it.


Queer as in F*ck You

My Partner Is Trans & I’m 40 — Here’s How We Got Pregnant

As you know, Autostraddle just successfully met our goal for our Pride Month Membership Drive (lies, we SMASHED THAT GOAL!! Thank you to all 410 new A+ members who have joined our weirdo party, we love you!). I bet you’d be interested in learning more about how we fundraise and why it’s important? WELL!

Our A+ and Fundraising Director Nicole Hall is so good at their job that they were asked to write about it and here it is: How Autostraddle Went from the Edge of Closure toward a Robust (and Successful!) Community-Centric Donor Model, during a Pandemic! Congratulations Nicole, we are all so proud of you!!

Miss Nevada USA Will Be the First Transgender Woman to Compete for Miss USA Crown

U.S. To Add Third Gender Option to Passports

Transgender Job Quota Law Seen ‘Changing Lives’ in Argentina. “A law reserving 1% of Argentina’s public sector jobs for transgender people will transform everyday life for the country’s trans community, LGBT+ activists said [last] Friday after Congress gave final approval for the measure.” (thanks to the A+ member shared this in our inbox, a theme of the week! You’ll see more in one second.)

CHICAGO Listen Up! Nobody’s Darling, A Black Woman-Owned, Queer Cocktail Bar, Opens In Andersonville. The bar’s name is inspired by an Alice Walker poem, “Be Nobody’s Darling.”

Valerie Anne has informed me that this human was in Bomb Girls and For All Mankind and I would like to wish them a happy coming out!

And also Japanese pop superstar Utada Hikaru came out as non-binary earlier this week (thanks to the tip from our A+ members inbox!). I love spreading so much great news!

You can also read more about Utada Hikaru’s coming out here and it’s really worth it, Hikaru Utada Is Nonbinary And Wishes All A Happy Pride Month


Saw This, Thought of You

I will be vulnerable here and say that rape is very specifically the reason I don’t consider or call myself a prison abolitionist. And I really appreciate what’s trying to be wrestled with and untangled in this piece from 2018 which could not be more timely to this week: Cosby Presents a Paradox For Prison Abolitionists (Related: All Your Questions About Bill Cosby’s Overturned Verdict, Answered)

And speaking of news I hate this week, Judge Denies Britney Spears’ Request to Remove Father From Conservatorship (Related, and a thoughtful read! We All Tried to Control Britney by Jessica M. Goldstein for Critical Mass)

Please, Do Not Shove Garlic In Your Nose (I’m not sure who is doing this or when TikTok became medical school, but yes please don’t do this!)

A Sci-FI Writer Got Meta about Gender. The Internet Responded by Ruining Her Life. “Isabel Fall’s sci-fi story ‘I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter’ drew the ire of the internet. A year later, she’s still picking through the wreckage.”


Political Snacks

No Political Snacks! Get sun this weekend!

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

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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.

14 Comments

  1. My heart does a happy flip when I think about the fact that the person who sings all the theme songs for big franchises like the Kingdom Hearts games and the new Evangelion movies is queer.

  2. The more disillusioned I feel about Pride Pride, the more pride I take in being part of ~this~ community, and Nicole’s piece really crystallized just a few of the many reasons why – so wonderful to see their work recognized!

  3. If I still worked at my fundraising job, I would have found about about Nicole’s article at CCF through my work email and freaked out!

    Congratulations to Nicole and the rest of the team! I love being a member of A+ <3

  4. The way people have destroyed Isabel Fall’s life is so fucking sad and inexcusable, I’m glad to see a little more recognition of that going around.

  5. Why even have gender on the passport? Choosing a third gender on a passport could potentially put a person, especially for tpoc, in negative situation.

  6. Also, don’t start making your Sha’Carri Richardson signs just yet. She may be suspended for testing positive at the trials. Sad.

  7. Woke up to more awful news, including an article about Sha’Carri Richardson being disqualified from the 100 meter Olympic spot due to a positive marijuana test. This week really does suck.

  8. Nicole, what a great article, and thanks again to all the AS staff for all you do including making the fundraiser work. I really appreciate the transparency and it was fascinating to find out how it developed.

    omg Isabel Fall I just wanna give her a hug and tell her she’s not a fraud

  9. Thank you for alerting us to Nicole Hall’s article! I am always interested to learn the nuts and bolts of Autostraddle’s business.

  10. Jodi Balfour?!? After we already got Ali Liebert? Bomb girls really is the gift that keeps on giving. No wonder all those Betty + Gladys scenes rang something in our hearts.

Comments are closed.