Pattie Gonia, the environmentalist drag queen, completed a 100-mile trek in full drag across California, raising over $1 million for outdoor equity non-profits and inspiring many with her message of making a difference.
Pattie Gonia, the prominent drag queen and environmentalist, successfully completed a 100-mile solo trek from Point Reyes national seashore to San Francisco, arriving on Friday afternoon. Throughout the journey, she maintained her full drag persona, including her voluminous red wig and smokey eye, and documented her experiences daily while camping each night. This arduous effort was a campaign to raise $1 million for eight non-profits dedicated to expanding access and making the outdoors a more equitable place. Upon crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, Pattie Gonia reflected on social media, stating, 'Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you can’t make a difference,' and shared how combining one's authentic self with their passions can lead to significant change, despite initial skepticism. By Friday, her GoFundMe campaign had surpassed $1 million from almost 35,000 individual donations. Pattie Gonia has become one of the most visible drag queens in the US, known for her activism; she was featured in a Trump campaign attack ad, helped organize a demonstration at Yosemite where LGBTQ+ climbers hung a trans pride flag on El Capitan, and recently challenged the US defense secretary to a pull-up competition. She is scheduled to perform her final show of the year in San Francisco on Saturday.
