Wyn Wiley, the climate activist who has raised millions of dollars for environmental causes by performing as a drag queen under the name Pattie Gonia, accused Patagonia of trying to “erase an activist” in response to the clothing giant’s trademark lawsuit against her.
Pattie broke her silence on the lawsuit, first filed in January, in a video statement posted to her official Instagram account on Wednesday.
“This is a betrayal of Patagonia’s core mission, because if they’re in business to save the home planet, why are they suing a climate activist?” Pattie says in the video.
Pattie called on Patagonia, an outdoor apparel brand that has built its identity around sustainability and conservation, to drop the lawsuit and challenged the company’s stated values in an open letter to company CEO Ryan Gellert and Patagonia’s board of directors.
Attorneys for Patagonia filed the complaint in California federal court in January, alleging that a trademark application Pattie filed seeking the exclusive rights to her brand name in 2025 was “likely to dilute Patagonia’s famous Patagonia trademarks.”
The lawsuit asks the court to block Pattie’s trademark application and prevent her from “continuing to perform in any manner whatsoever” under the name Pattie Gonia. It also seeks $1 in damages from Pattie, along with Patagonia’s attorneys’ fees and “investigative expenses.”
Pattie, who has denied all allegations, said the financial stakes she is up against are likely far higher.
“Patagonia told the media they’re only suing me for $1,” Pattie says in the video message. “What they’re actually trying to do is to take away my name permanently and threaten me with more than $1 million in legal fees.”
Pattie argued the legal conflict is larger than intellectual property and trademarks.
“This is a corporation trying to erase an activist, and this is how corporations bully individuals who cannot match their resources, because this would take away not only my activism and my career, but also the livelihoods of the team I employ,” she said.
Pattie said in the open letter that her drag persona has allowed her to amass more than 3 million followers on social media, launch the LGBTQ+ nonprofit Outdoorist Oath and raise more than $3.7 million for environmental causes.
In a 2025 TED Talk, Pattie described drag as an art form that educates and empowers people to join the environmental movement.
Pattie’s advocacy has not gone unnoticed.
She was featured on the TIME100 Creators of 2025 list, in a National Geographic profile and as Outside Magazine’s 2022 Outsider of the Year. Pattie argued Patagonia’s lawsuit could lead to the “erasure” of the progress and community she has created at a time when conservation is under attack at the federal level.
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Patagonia’s lawsuit against Pattie arrives amid broader political backlash against drag performances and gender nonconformity that has intensified under the Trump administration. Republican led states, including Texas, Tennessee and Montana, have passed laws restricting drag performances, while President Donald Trump himself has vowed to ban them taking place at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.
Patagonia’s complaint and Pattie’s response laid out competing versions of a yearslong dispute between the parties. The company said it previously reached an agreement over the use of the Pattie Gonia name and “how that advocacy work might continue in a way that would not interfere with Patagonia’s brand.”
But Pattie disputed that characterization.
“In 2022, when I was collaborating with a third party, Patagonia asked me to follow certain terms, and I did. That wasn’t a broad agreement about my future,” she wrote in the letter.
Spokespeople for Patagonia Inc. and Pattie Gonia Productions did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment.
Pattie’s statement received an outpouring of support on social media.
In a rebuttal to Pattie’s message, Patagonia said the lawsuit is not intended to suppress the right to advocacy and that the company did not want a legal fight with “someone who shares our values.”
“But we must protect our business and employees,” Patagonia said.
Under the name Wyn Wiley, Pattie filed an application for an attorney to appear on her behalf the same day the video response was posted to Instagram.
“In the end, I had two choices: the erasure of my name, my advocacy, my community, and everyone I employ or to fight for myself and to fight for us, so I’m fighting,” Pattie said.
Sydney Carruth
Sydney Carruth is a breaking news reporter covering national politics and policy for MS NOW. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at SydneyCarruth.46 or follow her work on X and Bluesky.
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