Pattie Gonia, Environmentalist Drag Queen, Has an Earth Day Message for You

Happy Earth Day! Don't F*ck It Up.

The iconic environmentalist and drag queen Pattie Gonia urged her followers on Earth Day on Saturday to take action to combat the climate crisis.

“Happy Earth Day,” Pattie says in a clip posted to social media. “Your friend shared this video because they want us all to stop shaming each other over a plastic straw or a long shower and instead start shaming the corporations and elected officials that are actually causing the climate crisis.”

She adds, “Vote the a**holes out of office, get involved in a local climate org, and most of all if you feel dead inside get the f*ck outside, so you can remember why this planet is worth fighting for.”

For several years, Pattie has been taking to the internet to encourage awareness of environmental issues. She was even chosen to be one of the Out 100 of Out magazine, The Advocate’s sibling publication, in 2020.

She’s taken to the mountains in heels to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for outdoor and LGBTQ+ rights nonprofit groups. For Halloween last, Pattie went as "the scariest thing on Earth...climate change."

Pattie, whose real name is Wyn Wiley, has more than 520,000 followers on Instagram. Wiley is a 30-year-old gay Nebraskan, outdoors enthusiast, and creative director who’s worked with Adidas, Red Bull, and Disney, was on a weeklong backtracking trip a few years ago in Colorado when he strapped on some high heels and strutted for the camera in his first outing as Pattie Gonia. That first video garnered more than 100 million views across platforms.

“I love the outdoors and I love drag so I figured why not intersect my passions and do both,” the backpacking drag queen told The Advocate’s other sibling publication, Out Traveler. “There are so many other outdoor drag queens and I love that we’re all here doing what we can to bring queerness to spaces we love, like the outdoors, ecology, and backpacking.”

Wiley said he became an environmentalist “very slowly.”

“Through failing every single day and through every moment where I’ve realized being an environmentalist doesn’t mean perfection and the goal isn’t to change anyone else’s mind,” Wiley explained, “but instead it’s about holding myself accountable to change what I can in my life, and remain curious and a lifelong learner about our planet and how to ally it.”

Wiley told the magazine that he considers himself an “intersectional environmentalist” centering “ways in which injustices happening to marginalized communities, and the Earth are interconnected. It brings injustices done to the most vulnerable communities, and the Earth, to the forefront and does not minimize or silence social inequality.”

He also co-founded The Oath, an organization designed to educate and unite outdoor communities with a shared commitment to act for the planet, inclusion, and adventure.

Check out more of Pattie Gonia’s looks and activism below. You can follow Pattie on Instagram @pattiegonia.