National Geographic has named a drag queen one of its “2024 travelers of the year.”
Drag queen Wyn Wiley, known as Pattie Gonia, is being hailed as an “outdoors inspiration” and a “traveler of the year” in a recent National Geographic article, titled, “They inspire us and teach us about the world: Meet our 2024 Travelers of the Year.”
Pattie Gonia “helps LGBTQ+ youth discover the wonders of the outdoors,” the magazine states. “As founder of the nonprofit Outdoorist Oath, she brings the queer community together in the parks and wild spaces of Oregon, her home state.”
National Geographic added that the drag queen’s “feel-good music videos address environmental justice and pride in identity, and include collaborators such as cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Indigenous trans musician Quinn Christopherson.”
“Every year my community fundraises to send 10 queer youth on a fully scholarshipped backpacking trip,” Pattie Gonia told the magazine. “One of the attendees told me and the group around the fire, ‘Being on this trip has helped me reclaim a childhood I didn’t get to have.’ That’s everything to me.”
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After being asked for his “top travel tip,” the drag queen advised that readers “Get up before the sun rises. Go out, walk about, and watch the world wake up.”
“How would you define your drag style?” National Geographic asked, to which Pattie Gonia replied, “Campy, witty, sustainable, and unapologetic. A lady in the streets but a freak on the peaks.”
The magazine also named eight others it says can give readers “tips on how to be a better traveler,” such as country music star Dolly Parton, which National Geographic calls a “hospitality queen,” and “Pasta Grannies” author Vicky Bennison, who is referred to as a “culinary documentarian.”
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