Iconic drag queen Pattie Gonia has raised over $1 million for environmental nonprofits while completing a 100-mile backpacking trek down the California coast. After completing the trek, Pattie took to Instagram to share her success. The initiative saw 34,700 individual donations with an average donation size of $30.
Pattie Gonia, is not just a fabulous drag queen but an environmental activist, as emphasized by her drag name. And this is not the first time Pattie has been discussed in public discourse. At this past November’s Out100 Gala, a gathering of Out Magazine’s most influential LGBTQ+ influencers, Pattie wore a 66-foot long trans pride flag that was formerly hanging in Yosemite National Park.
At the gala, she was accompanied by Shannon “SJ” Joslin, a non-binary farmer Yosemite park ranger who was fired after flying the trans flag across famous rock formation El Capitan. Pattie Gonia helped drape the flag over the rock face with a group of climbers. According to PinkNews, the display was meant to send a message of trans acceptance, that trans people belong “in nature, in community and everywhere,” Joslin said.
“When I started being Pattie everyone told me I was crazy. When I told people I wanted to do this fundraiser people laughed in my face.” Pattie raised funds for eight different outdoor nonprofits, each of which will now receive $145,986. “That is game changing money to them, especially during a time when most every outdoor brand and our government is pulling funding,” she wrote.
Organizations that will now receive funds from Pattie’s efforts include Brave Trails, Vamonos Outside, Eastern Sierra Conservation Corps, YMCA Camp Kitaki, The Children’s Home Project, and The Outdoorist Oath. Each organization works within communities to conserve and preserve nature, boost community health and activity, and support local ecosystems.
Pattie documented her journey on Instagram, making videos at different mile markers, looking amazing in full drag glam. The person behind the drag persona, Wyn Wiley, has given interviews to outlets like Outside, and National Geographic in recent years, building their ethos as an expert in outdoor activism.
Wyn makes appearances alongside their drag persona on Instagram, but Pattie has been gaining renown in the drag community over the past year with her number of followers on social accounts skyrocketing. She even dropped stellar merch this year, camo-printed tee shirts emblazoned with phrases like “Promote Lesbianism” and “Feral Queer.”
“I hope I can be a little bit of proof to you that combining who you are and what you’re good at to fight for the change you want to see in the world works,” she continued. “Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you can’t make a difference.”
