Wyn Wiley (born 1991or1992), [1] known professionally as Pattie Gonia, is a drag queen, environmental and LGBTQ+ activist, and community organizer.
Wyn Wiley (born 1991or1992), [1] known professionally as Pattie Gonia, is a drag queen, environmental and LGBTQ+ activist, and community organizer.
Wiley is from Lincoln, Nebraska. [2] [3]
Gonia graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with a degree in advertising and public relations in 2014. [4] Wiley has worked as a creative director and professional photographer. [5] [6] [3]
Wiley's first experiment with drag was in early 2018, as the character "Ginger Snap". [7] [2] In October 2018, Wiley created the character Pattie Gonia, producing short-form outdoors activism content on Instagram and TikTok, while in drag. [1] [8] The first video as Pattie Gonia, posted on October 3, gained more than 100 million views. [6] [9] The name Pattie Gonia is a pun on Patagonia, an American outdoor clothing company. [1] [5] Pattie Gonia's activism focuses on environmental and LGBTQ+ issues, promoting acceptance of queer identities in the environmentalist and outdoors communities, and promoting awareness of climate change and its effects. [3] [1] Euronews described this form of activism as "intersectional environmentalism". [10]
In addition to online content, Pattie Gonia organizes in-person hikes and events for LGBT+ and environmental causes. [11] [12] They also developed a job board for queer outdoorists. [8]
In January 2022, Wiley co-founded "The Outdoorist Oath", a nonprofit working on diversity, equity, and inclusion and environmental causes in the outdoors community. [13] [14] [15] Pattie Gonia partnered with The North Face for their 2022 "Summer of Pride" series. [16] [3] The series comprised four outdoor community-building events focused on local LGBTQ+ engagement and acceptance. [17] [18]
In 2020, Pattie Gonia was named to the Out100, Out magazine's annual list of the "most impactful and influential LGBTQ+ people." [6] [19] They were also nominated for the Shorty Awards in the LGBTQ+ category. [20]
In 2023, Time magazine included Pattie Gonia in their list of Next Generation Leaders. [21]
In December 2018, Wiley was interviewed by REI alongside the release of his first music video as Pattie Gonia. [22] [23] In November 2019, Pattie Gonia was the subject of a REI documentary titled "Dear Mother Nature". [24] [20] [25] It was accompanied by a shorter, 3-minute spoken word poem video titled "Everything to Lose". [26] [27] Pattie Gonia later produced a video with BBC News about the activist's work in March 2020. [28]
Pattie Gonia attracted media attention for attending the January 2019 Outdoor Retailer trade show in all-white drag. [2] [29]
In October 2022, Pattie Gonia was the subject of media coverage for their Halloween costume, where they dressed as climate change. [30] They have previously designed other outfits in support of climate causes and awareness, such as a dress and wigs made of recycled trash, for their TikTok and Instagram content. [31] [11] [32]
In 2023, Pattie Gonia released "Won't Give Up" with famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and Indigenous trans musician Quinn Christopherson. [33] The music video was filmed in Kenai Fjords National Park as a tribute to Exit Glacier, a melting glacier in Alaska which was once a hundred feet tall. [34]
Pattie Gonia uses she/they pronouns when in drag and while out of drag Wyn Wiley uses he/they pronouns. [30] Wiley identifies as a gay male. [29] He lives in Oregon. [21]
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