Pattie Gonia is changing the way we see drag by bringing her fabulousness to the outdoors. That’s right, she has embarked on a mission to bring people’s attention towards the importance of climate activism.
The 29 year-old gay Nebraskan utilises her innovative sustainable outfits and insightful videos on TikTok to influence her followers to be more environmentally conscious.
How did this all come about? Wyn Wiley went on a backpacking trip in Colorado in December of 2020 when inspiration struck to slap on the high-heels and set the camera up and introduce the world to Pattie Gonia.
Since then, Pattie Gonia has received over 1 million likes (1.9 to be exact!) on her TikTok videos and she has 129,000 followers actively engaging with her content.
If you’re a fan of musical theatre (The Sound of Music specifically), she even recreated the iconic opening sequence from the film where Maria twirls her dress but this time, “The hills are alive, with the sound of… climate change”
@pattiegonia but like the hills are literally dying tho…🌎😭 #climatechange #climatecrisis #globalwarming #soundofmusic #queer #drag #dragqueen #lgbt #gay
In an interview with Vogue, Wiley was asked why he wanted to start making TikToks and his answer was “I wanted to share my environmental advocacy through my art form of drag—and also make the outdoors as gay as possible”
He was also asked to speak about his process: “My process is to ask myself, ‘How can I create content that can help teach people about the climate crisis, and motivate them to [participate in] climate action?’”
Wiley has turned old trash into cutting edge fashion moments – saying “If you can hold onto your trash boyfriend for two whole years, then you can hold onto this piece of trash for five more minutes.”
@pattiegonia pls & thank u. #litter #environment #outdoors #climatechange #trashion
Pattie Gonia is encouraging her followers to think about government leaders who are not paying as much attention as they should be to the climate crisis “and just remember, the real issue isn’t climate change, the real issue are the leaders and policy and people that completely ignore climate change just for the sake of some profit.”
Her work is nothing short of inspiring and is, undoubtably, enormously influential. Slay, Pattie Gonia, slay!
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