Pattie Gonia

Last updated
Pattie Gonia
Pattie Gonia by EvanBenallyAtwood.jpg
Pattie Gonia in 2025
Born
Wyn Wiley

(1992-07-21) July 21, 1992 (age 33)
Occupations
Known forDrag queen, environmental and LGBTQ+ activist

Wyn Wiley (born July 21, 1992), [1] known professionally as Pattie Gonia, is a drag queen, environmental and LGBTQ+ activist, and community organizer. Pattie Gonia uses she/they pronouns when in drag and while out of drag Wyn Wiley uses he/they pronouns. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Wiley is from Lincoln, Nebraska. [2] [3]

Pattie 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]

Activism and career

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 folks seeking jobs and for companies to share job postings. [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]

Pattie Gonia is a firm supporter of the Palestinian cause and has spoken up against the Israeli government throughout the Gaza Genocide. Pattie Gonia attended the 2024 Glaad Awards holding a sign reading "End Genocide End Ecocide" as a reference to the genocide in Gaza and worldwide ecocide. [19]

In 2024, Pattie Gonia hosted an environmental drag show titled “Anti-Plastic Fantastic’”, advocating against single-use plastics and the waste of not reusing clothing. [20] In 2025, Pattie Gonia gave a TedTalk about the role of joy in the fight against climate change and supporting queer rights. [21]

Awards and recognition

In 2020, Pattie Gonia was named to the Out100, Out magazine's annual list of the "most impactful and influential LGBTQ+ people." [6] [22] They were also nominated for the Shorty Awards in the LGBTQ+ category. [23] In 2023, Time magazine included Pattie Gonia in their list of Next Generation Leaders. [24] In 2024, Pattie Gonia was named a National Geographic Traveler of the Year. [25]

Media coverage

In December 2018, Wiley was interviewed by REI, an outdoor clothing company, alongside the release of his first music video as Pattie Gonia. [26] [27] In November 2019, Pattie Gonia was the subject of a REI documentary titled "Dear Mother Nature". [28] [23] [29] It was accompanied by a shorter, 3-minute spoken word poem video titled "Everything to Lose". [30] [31] Pattie Gonia later produced a video with BBC News about the activist's work in March 2020. [32]

Pattie Gonia attracted media attention for attending the January 2019 Outdoor Retailer trade show in all-white drag. [2] [33]

In October 2022, Pattie Gonia was the subject of media coverage for their Halloween costume, where they dressed as climate change. [34] 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. [35] [11] [36]

In 2023, Pattie Gonia released "Won't Give Up" [37] with famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and Indigenous trans musician Quinn Christopherson. [38] 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. [39]

In 2024, an image of Pattie Gonia standing with Kamala Harris at a pride event in 2022 was used in an advertisement for the Donald Trump 2024 presidential campaign. The commercial used transgender people to attack Harris, stating that “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you.” The ad criticized Harris’s statements that all people should be allowed gender-affirming healthcare, including inmates. Pattie Gonia responded to the ad on social media, noting that the Trump campaign did not have permission to use the image and directing followers to a fundraiser for two LGBTQ advocacy groups. [40]

Also in 2024, Pattie toured with her show, SAVE HER! An Environmental Drag show. The show visited a number of cities across the U.S. [41]

Pattie Gonia continues to be featured in news outlets for her work, including features by the Associated Press, Bloomberg, and the Washington Post. [42] [43] [44]

Personal life

Pattie Gonia uses she/they pronouns when in drag and while out of drag Wyn Wiley uses he/they pronouns. [34] Wiley identifies as a gay male. [33] He lives in Oregon. [24]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Meet Pattie Gonia, the Backpacking Drag Queen Promoting Inclusivity in the Outdoors". SELF . December 11, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 "Outdoorsqueen Pattie Gonia Wants You to Find Your Six-Inch Heels". Outside . August 12, 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Meet The Drag Queen Environmentalist Helping Queer People Find Freedom In Nature". HuffPost . July 20, 2022.
  4. Weinberger, Madi (December 4, 2014). "Photographer Wyn Wiley has 'phenomenal eye for capturing life'". The Daily Nebraskan. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
  5. 1 2 Outside, Grace Perry for (November 15, 2018). "Pattie Gonia: the drag queen Eagle Scout who dances on mountaintops". The Guardian .
  6. 1 2 3 "Pattie Gonia Is Taking Drag Outdoors for Climate Activism". Out Traveler . February 25, 2022.
  7. "For This Outdoor Drag Queen, the Trail Is a Runway". Sierra Club .
  8. 1 2 Klusendorf, Annie (April 19, 2022). "Q&A: Pattie Gonia on Outdoor Advocacy and Nature's Queerness". Field Mag.
  9. "This Backpacking Drag Queen Makes Hiking in Heels Look Easy". ELLE . January 11, 2019.
  10. Campbell, Maeve (October 22, 2020). "Meet Pattie Gonia: An environmental drag queen on a mission". Euronews .
  11. 1 2 Kennedy, Sarah (July 16, 2021). "A conversation with environmentalist drag queen Pattie Gonia » Yale Climate Connections". Yale Climate Connections .
  12. "Meet the drag queen on a mission to create safe outdoor spaces for underrepresented communities". The Seattle Times . November 29, 2021.
  13. Hirsh, Sophie (August 9, 2022). "Pattie Gonia Is the Intersectional Environmentalist Drag Queen Making a Difference (Exclusive)". Green Matters.
  14. Hirsh, Sophie (January 14, 2022). "Activists Launch "Outdoorist Oath" Community to Celebrate "Planet, Inclusion, and Adventure"". Green Matters.
  15. "What It Means to Sign On to the New Outdoorist Oath". Sierra Club .
  16. Helms, Hayley (May 23, 2022). "The North Face and Pattie Gonia Team Up for 'Summer of Pride'". Gear Patrol.
  17. Menetre, Giorgia. "Pattie Gonia and The North Face Team up for Summer of Pride". Teton Gravity Research .
  18. Ernest, Maya (23 May 2022). "The North Face taps drag queen Pattie Gonia to celebrate Pride". Input.
  19. Durban, Erin L.; Moore, Megan A. (2024-11-01). "Introduction: Transecologies, Trans* Ecologies, TransEcologies" . TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly. 11 (4): 531–541. doi:10.1215/23289252-11421118. ISSN   2328-9252.
  20. Allaire, Christian. "Pattie Gonia's Environmental Drag Show Was "Anti-Plastic Fantastic"". Vogue.
  21. Sprayregen, Molly. "Pattie Gonia gives Historic TED Talk in Drag on Why Joy is Critical to Resistance". LGBTQ Nation.
  22. "Out100 2019". Out .
  23. 1 2 "Pattie Gonia - The Shorty Awards". Shorty Awards .
  24. 1 2 Mandel, Kyla (October 5, 2023). "How This Drag Queen Is Fostering an Inclusive Outdoor Community". Time . Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  25. "They Inspire us and Teach us about the World: Meet our 2024 Travelers of the Year". National Geographic.
  26. Parris, Aer (December 10, 2018). "Pattie Gonia, Backpacking Queen, Releases Her First Full-Length Video". REI .
  27. "Climb Every Mountain | Pattie Gonia". 9 December 2018 via www.youtube.com.
  28. Staff, R. E. I. (November 21, 2019). "REI Presents: 'Everything to Lose' by Pattie Gonia". REI .
  29. "REI Presents: Dear Mother Nature, starring Pattie Gonia". 21 November 2019 via www.youtube.com.
  30. Lozancich, Katie (7 July 2019). "Live Like Pattie Gonia: Mother Nature Takes Pride in YOU". Teton Gravity Research .
  31. "REI Presents: Everything to Lose by Pattie Gonia". 21 November 2019 via www.youtube.com.
  32. "Hiking and beach cleaning - in heels and drag". BBC News .
  33. 1 2 "Pattie Gonia is Making Hiking Fabulous". 6 February 2019. Archived from the original on 2022-11-20. Retrieved 2022-11-12.
  34. 1 2 Hubbard, Halisia (October 31, 2022). "Drag queen Pattie Gonia wanted a scary Halloween costume. She went as climate change" via NPR.
  35. "Pattie Gonia Is the Drag Queen Bringing Environmentalism to TikTok". Vogue . October 3, 2021.
  36. "Pattie Gonia: The drag queen on a mission to save the mothertuckin' planet". Attitude . March 23, 2021.
  37. Veltman, Chloe. "This Trio Hopes 'Won't Give Up' will become an Anthem for the Climate Movement". NPR.
  38. "How This Drag Queen Is Fostering an Inclusive Outdoor Community". Time. 2023-10-05. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  39. Veltman, Chloe (November 14, 2023). "This trio hopes 'Won't Give Up' will become an anthem for the climate movement". NPR.
  40. "Drag queen whose image was used in a Trump ad is reviewing 'legal options'". NBC News. 2024-10-04. Retrieved 2024-10-04.
  41. Allaire, Christian (2024-09-26). "Pattie Gonia's Environmental Drag Show Was "Anti-Plastic Fantastic"". Vogue. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
  42. Masquelier-Page, Alice (2024-09-27). "Drag queen Pattie Gonia aims to give the climate movement a makeover with joy and laughter". The Associated Press. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
  43. "Drag Queen Pattie Gonia Wants to Make the Outdoors More Inclusive". Bloomberg.com. 2024-07-09. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
  44. O'Neill, Shane (June 25, 2025). "Why drag queen Pattie Gonia is werking from the mountaintops". The Washington Post.