The first  queer Gen Z kids were born the same year that RuPaul started their first Drag Race TV program  ….. and yes, it was in this century, although its often hard for some of us to remember those days when we didn’t risk seeing her when we turned on our TV.  This kids are part of a queer community that finds it hard to believe that our world was populated by some excellent drag queens who, without television exposure, became the very best of their ilk. They had their drag of course, but it was their sheer talent that made them the stars they remain today:  the Lady Bunny, Varla Jean Merman, Dina Martina, Peaches Christ, Miss Hope Springs, Miss Richfield 1981 Coco Peru etc etc.

Even now, some of the newer drag artists are choosing their own career paths to shape their careers without helping Ru Paul add to her estimated $60 million fortune. Talent will always shine through without a quick TV fix like in the case of PATTIE GONIA (aka Wyn Wiley from Nebraska),who is also an environmental and LGBTQ+ activist and community organizer.  Pattie Gonia is a pun on Patagonia, an American outdoor clothing company as her activism focuses on environmental and LGBTQ+ issues, she promotes acceptance of queer identities in the environmentalist and outdoors communities and raises awareness of climate change and its effects. Evidently, this form of activism is known as “intersectional environmentalism

Pattie was ‘born’ in 2018, and if you havent heard of her, then you are in a decreasing minority as her first video gained more than 100 million views.  To catch up, check out the video below of “Wont Give Up” which she wrote with THE cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and who performed of the film along with Indigenous trans musician Quinn Christopherson. 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

So far Pattie has been  named to the Out100, Out magazine’s annual list of the “most impactful and influential LGBTQ+ people. In 2023, Time magazine included Pattie Gonia in their list of Next Generation Leaders. followed by being named a National Geographic Traveler of the Year.

Pattie is currently touring the US with her show, SAVE HER! An Environmental Drag show. One of the stops in Provincetown where Queerguru is based in the summer ….. so guess who will be there trying not to scream.

 https://www.pattiegonia.net/tour