Patti Gonia, drag queen and environmentalist, arrived at San Francisco on Friday afternoon and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge with $1 million more than when she set off on her trip last week.
The diversity and inclusion advocate completed the 100-mile trek from Point Reyes National Seashore to San Francisco in full costume, complete with her voluminous red wig and smoky eyes. The effort was part of a campaign she launched to raise $1 million for eight nonprofits that aim to increase access and make nature a more “equitable place.”
“Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t make a difference,” she wrote on social media after completing her trip. “When I became Patty, everyone told me I was crazy. When I told people I wanted to do a fundraiser, [they] laughed in my face.
“Seven years later and I hope I can be a little proof to you that combining who you are and what you're good at to fight for the change you want to see in the world works.”
Patty Gonia has become one of the most famous drag queens in the United States in recent years. In 2024, Donald Trump's campaign used footage of her with Kamala Harris as part of an ad campaign against the then-vice president. Earlier this year, she helped organize a demonstration in Yosemite where LGBTQ+ climbers hanged trans pride flag on El Capitan.
“We flew the trans pride flag in Yosemite to say: Trans people are natural and trans people are loved,” she said in a statement at the time. “We're tired of being polite about the existence of transgender people. Call it a protest, call it a celebration – either way, it will elevate liberation.”
She recently playfully challenged US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to a pull-up competition, filming a video that contrasted footage of her lifting up with ease with video of Hegseth appearing to struggle with the exercise.
Last week she was on a solo hike California coastline, moving daily and camping every night while filming videos documenting the journey. She's set to perform her last show of the year in San Francisco on Saturday. “That is, if I can make it,” she said. Video posted to social media Friday night shows her strutting across the Golden Gate Bridge and ending her journey with a cake.
As of Friday, a GoFundMe for the project had raised more than $1 million from nearly 35,000 individual donations.
