Abby From Queer Eye Is Fighting For More Than Climate Change Now

Queer Eye season 5 introduced viewers to 18-year-old Abby Leedy. The young activist works with the The Sunrise Movement in Philadelphia to stop climate change. After Queer Eye, Abby Leedy has been busier than ever with her activism work, but she tells Refinery29 that the Fab Five did help her learn to slow down a bit.

"The biggest lesson I learned from being on the show was that I needed to do some serious work on my anxiety and work-life balance," Leedy says. "Organising brings me a lot of joy, but working so much and not giving myself time to deal with my mental health issues was going to lead to serious burnout. The only way I can keep doing the work I love long term is to slow down and take breaks when I need them — and that goes for all of us, especially now."

But even through learning to balance her work life and personal life a bit more, Leedy has remained active in the climate justice world. She tells R29 that she took another year off from school to continue her efforts with Sunrise, and she's since moved out of the organisation's house that Bobby Berk redid. Now she is living with some of her fellow activists.

Leedy doesn't have a huge personal social media presence, but she's been tagged in her friends' Instagrams at various climate justice events since the show wrapped. In October 2019, she went to Washington D.C. to where she spoke passionately in front of an audience at a climate change rally. "I read once that this summer was the hottest in the last 125 years," she said. "But when I hear that, all I think is that it's probably the coolest one for the next 125 years." Then, in December, she helped organise a climate strike in Philadelphia that earned the young activist a profile by Philadelphia Magazine. In February of this year, she helped organise the "stand up or step aside" protest in D.C. where middle school and high school students challenged Senators on their climate stances.

Now, Leedy and Sunrise have turned their attention to another pressing issue, Black Lives Matter. "Right now, all of our work at Sunrise is focusing on supporting the Movement for Black Lives' demands to defend Black lives by defunding police and investing in communities," Leedy says. "To that end, I've been going to protests in Philly, organizing Sunrise folks into protests where they are, and helping put on trainings so folks know how to show up safely when they go."

One thing is for sure after watching Leedy's Queer Eye episode and hearing what she's up to now: These kids are alright.