Pattie Gonia gives history lesson on feeling joy despite state of world: ‘A strategy to fight back’
Pattie Gonia has encouraged their followers to find joy in spite of the political climate. (Getty)
Pattie Gonia has given fans a history lesson on the right to experience joy despite the bleak state of the world, calling it “a strategy to fight back”.
The drag queen and environmental activist took to Instagram on Monday (17 February) to share why it’s important to find joy when the weight of the world feels heavy, given the state of politics in the US, the Israel-Hamas conflict, and the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Pattie, who uses they/she/he pronouns, began by reflecting on the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. They recounted a quote from sex columnist and activist Dan Savage who wrote, “During the darkest days of the AIDS crisis, we buried our friends in the morning, we protested in the afternoon, and we danced all night.”
They continued, “But [if] the state of the world has you completely drained and you’re asking yourself, ‘do I have permission to have fun, to experience joy?’, my answer is, undoubtedly, yes.
“In fact, joy is a strategy to fight back,” she said, referring to her recent TED Talk, Why joy is a serious way to take action. “The main idea behind this is that we can take fighting for [campaigns] seriously without taking ourselves too seriously,” she said, paraphrasing her TED talk.
“What people in power want is for us to be depressed. Joy is rebellious,” they added. “Back to the AIDS crisis when millions of people were dying and no one, I mean no one, was joining our fight, drag queens and trans people turned pain into joy. And in doing so, welcomed millions more people to fight with us.
“Joy is strategic, joy is an inside job, and joy welcomes more people to join a movement,” he explained. “Let’s not forget that we have been here before, and what a shame it would be to our elders to give up now.
“Humanity is not dead,” they concluded. Their talk echoes the sentiment of Kamala Harris’ concession speech when she lost the election to President Donald Trump. She told young people that “the light of America’s promise will always burn bright, as long as we never give up and we keep fighting”.
“Sometimes the fight takes a while – that doesn’t mean we won’t win… Don’t give up,” she told the crowd at the time. “You have power.”
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