A self-styled climate activist and community organizer, Pattie Gonia has carved out a niche in intersectional environmentalism, advocating to protect the earth while making outdoors spaces more hospitable to LGBTQ+ people.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s given TED talks<\/a> about the importance of bringing joy to climate activism, raised a million dollars by hiking in drag, and challenged Pete Hegseth to a kettlebell-swing competition<\/a> in a post mocking his performative masculinity. \u201cI\u2019ll do it tucked and in heels,\u201d Pattie Gonia said. <\/p>\n With a bushy red mustache and an even more voluminous red wig, Pattie Gonia\u2019s look is at once high glam and rugged. Her costumes bring new meaning to the \u201ccamp\u201d drag performers have long embraced: She wears carabiners as earrings<\/a> and tents as skirts<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pattie is, in short, a rising star in the worlds of drag, social media, and activism.<\/p>\n Yet she finds herself at the center of a legal dispute with Patagonia, the eco-friendly outdoor clothing brand (which is, in turn, named after the region of South America known for its stunning natural beauty).<\/p>\n In January, the company (which was restructured<\/a> in 2022 so that profits fight climate change) filed a trademark infringement lawsuit<\/a> against Pattie Gonia, who had begun to sell branded apparel and also a trademark application for the \u201cPattie Gonia\u201d name.<\/p>\n The public didn\u2019t really take notice until earlier this month, when Pattie Gonia took to social media to urge her followers to speak up on her behalf. \u201cThis is a corporation trying to erase an activist, and this is how corporations bully individuals who cannot match their resources,\u201d she said in a lengthy Instagram post<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a statement, Patagonia said the lawsuit only came after repeated attempts to find a path forward with Pattie Gonia. \u201cThis matter is not about seeking financial gain, nor is it about challenging anyone\u2019s identity or right to advocacy, protest, or creative expression,\u201d the statement read. \u201cThe last thing we wanted was a legal fight with someone who shares our values, but we must protect our business and employees.\u201d (Pattie Gonia did not respond to a request for comment.)<\/p>\n The story has taken off online, where many see Patagonia as a hypocritical corporation claiming it owns the name of a place<\/a>.<\/p>\n But there has also been some pushback from within the drag\/queer community.<\/p>\n Tom Fitzgerald<\/a>, one half of the fashion and pop culture criticism duo Tom & Lorenzo<\/a>, weighed in a recent episode of the duo\u2019s podcast. \u201cWhen you start trying to sell things, when you bring your drag to a more merchandisable level, then you\u2019re no longer the underground drag artist who\u2019s poking fun,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re actually a company and a brand.\u201d<\/p>\n Vanity Fair<\/a> last week detailed the protracted and messy legal back-and-forth between Patagonia and Pattie Gonia \u2014 and made the compelling case that this expensive fight has no real winners. (When progressives are squabbling over trademarks, the only people benefitting are the lawyers.)<\/p>\n But the lawsuit has also drawn attention to the importance that names often play in the creation of a drag persona \u2014 and the unforeseen complications that arise when a name borrows from a well-known company.<\/p>\n The name game<\/p>\n Along with wigs, makeup, costumes, and choreography, names are part of \u201cthe distinctive way an artist creates a drag character,\u201d says Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes<\/a>, an expert on Puerto Rican drag<\/a> and a professor at the University of Michigan. \u201cNames are a world unto themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n A drag name can \u201cconvey all sorts of information,\u201d he said. \u201cIt can be a tribute. It can highlight femininity, but it can also center comedy. It really varies. Names are a space of engagement, and they signal as much as your appearance and your performance,\u201d explained La Fountain-Stokes, who performs drag as Lola von Miramar,<\/a> a name that references a neighborhood in his hometown of San Juan.<\/p>\n \u201cThe performer\u2019s name serves as your introduction to them,\u201d said Joe E. Jeffreys, a drag historian who teaches at New York University. \u201cTheir name establishes their tone or points of reference.\u201d<\/p>\n Alexis Michelle, who appeared on RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race and the reality series Dragnificent!, remembers flipping through queer magazines in the 1990s and seeing performers whose clever names instantly captured their wit, such as Hedda Lettuce and Miss Understood.<\/p>\n When it came time to create her own name, she thought of doing something punny, but \u201cnothing resonated.\u201d Ultimately, she settled on a feminized version of her legal name. \u201cI wasn\u2019t deeply passionate about that choice when I made it, but everything happens for a reason,\u201d she said, noting that the less showy name ultimately suited her best. \u201cI really realized that my drag is not a costume to me, it\u2019s not an alter ego, it\u2019s not a character, it\u2019s my female side.\u201d<\/p>\n The pundamentals<\/p>\n In her initial post, Pattie Gonia argued that \u201cdrag is built on parody, puns, and jokes.\u201d <\/p>\n Drag is meant to be a transgressive art form that sends up mainstream culture through a queer lens, and camp humor is often a part of that.<\/p>\n La Fountain-Stokes also cited the example of Hedda Lettuce, who commits to the bit by dressing in shades of green. \u201cThe name immediately communicates her style of drag \u2014 comedy queen. Invoking camp, making people laugh or chuckle just by repeating your name or hearing your name \u2014 it\u2019s to your advantage. You\u2019re already ahead with the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s a long tradition of names that, like Hedda Luttuce, use puns and wordplay. They can be cheeky, irreverent, bawdy, or silly. (e.g. Tess Tickle, Dixie Normous, and Izzy Uncut<\/a>.) But clever, playful names don\u2019t have to be limiting, said Alexis Michelle.<\/p>\n Jan Sport, another drag queen with a name based on a well-known brand, is \u201ca multi-hyphenate artist who has the ability to be very funny and silly, but by no means is that the center of her brand,\u201d she said. Brita Filter is also more than a goofy joke about water purification systems.<\/p>\n \u201cHer main sense of purpose outside of performance is politics, and standing up for our community,\u201d Alexis Michelle said. \u201cEven with these honey campy brand names, people are not defined or boxed in by them.\u201d<\/p>\n Brita Filter and Jan Sport have been careful about using their names in ways that avoid legal trouble. They both starred on RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race and went by \u201cBrita\u201d and \u201cJan,\u201d respectively. Jan Sport collaborated with Jansport on a line of backpacks<\/a>, suggesting a fruitful partnership between corporations and the drag queens sending them up is possible.<\/p>\n Similarly, Trixie Mattel, a Barbie enthusiast<\/a> and Drag Race alum, uses only her first name on business ventures such as Trixie Cosmetics<\/a> and the Trixie Motel<\/a>.<\/p>\n La Fountain-Stokes said that Pattie Gonia is \u201ca really interesting example of the political things that drag can do. She is in that tradition of using drag as a tool to offer social critique at the same time that she entertains,\u201d<\/p>\n He thinks Patagonia\u2019s lawsuit is \u201cridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPattie Gonia represents no tangible threat to this corporation,\u201d he says. \u201cIt signals people who don\u2019t understand anything about drag.\u201d<\/p>\n Meredith Blake is the Contrarian\u2019s culture columnist.<\/p>\n
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