June is Pride Month! In celebration, we're donating to support LGBTQIA+ rights, and highlighting the outstanding work of some LGBTQIA+ environmentalists we love. Let's jump right in!
Pattie Gonia
Pattie Gonia is the creation of 27 year old Wyn Wiley, a character he says is, "the utmost representation of me and how I care for the planet - whether it’s wearing a wig made of 100 pieces of trash, or normalising outfit repeating, or only having 4 wigs as opposed to 40. Drag is a space with so much stuff in it, so I say to myself, ‘how can I fight against that consumerism?’”
Wiley says if he could encourage people to do one thing, it would be, "to spend more time outdoors, get out there, because it will make you realize exactly what’s worth saving."
Pinar Sinopoulos-Lloyd
Pınar Sinopolous-Lloyd is an Indigenous futurist and co-founder of Queer Nature, which stewards earth-based queer community through ancestral skills, interspecies relations, and rites of passage.
From their profile on Diversify Outdoors: As an indigenous queer outdoor leader, their inspiration is envisioning decolonially-informed queer futurism through interspecies accountability and remediating the myth of human exceptionalism.
Jamie S Margolin
Jamie Margolin is a 20 year old climate justice activist and co-founder of Zero Hour, a movement that centers the voices of diverse youth in the conversation around climate and environmental justice.
A lesbian who speaks openly about her experiences as a queer person, Margolin has written for several major media outlets, including CNN and Huffington post, and was named in Teen Vogue's 21 Under 21, as well as People Magazine's 25 Women Changing the World.
Isaias Hernandez
Isaias Hernandez is passionate about environmental justice, veganism, and zero-waste. His uses his social media platform, Queer Brown Vegan as an educational outlet and safe space for newcomers to the environmental movement. He also co-created an Environmental Magazine called Alluvia, which highlights BIPOC environmentalists through climate justice storytelling.
Check out his episode on the Unwasted Podcast for some good discussion about food and environmentalism.
Jenny Bruso
Jenny Bruso is the founder of Unlikely Hikers, a "diverse, anti-racist, body-liberating outdoor community featuring the underrepresented outdoorsperson." She regularly organizes inclusive group hikes where the slowest hiker sets the pace, and encourages the formation of similar groups everywhere.
"Despite how it may look in the commercials, magazines and other online nature communities," she says, "nature doesn’t care about your size, gender, race, ability, gear."
