When I was growing up, I longed to go to a camp, but there was just one problem: there wasn’t one for me. Considering I didn’t even have the language or a safer space to explore gender and sexuality, and that my family wasn’t exactly supportive initially when I came out to them, a camp for LGBTQ youth was out of the question.

Growing up as a young LGBTQ person can be confusing, scary, and isolating. For our older generations, particularly when we didn’t have the internet as a resource the way we do now, they were forced to live in silence or sneak around in underground groups or events if they did happen to come across someone else who was “like them”. There weren’t Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs or other student-led political and social groups), “gay proms” because of a lack of acceptance at traditional high school proms, or LGBT centers with support groups. We’ve come a long way in resources and support, yet there are still places that don’t have access to the spaces I just mentioned, particularly in rural areas.

Sometimes, this means that identifying as LGBTQ has meant a delay or having to skip out entirely of experiences like summer camp. Now that there are LGBTQ camps for youth or even specific to transgender and gender non-conforming youth, older generations may find the news to be bittersweet. However, I have good news. There are camps out there for or including LGBTQ adults! I was fortunate to be able to attend Campus Pride’s leadership camp in ’09 and it was life-changing and affirming. I want that for you, so check out the camps below. Some may offer scholarships for those facing financial hardships.

Transmission

Transmission offers retreats for trans men and transmasculine folks at beautiful locations in wooded northern California. Our gatherings include peer-led workshops and activities that support our mission.

https://geared4transmission.org/

Spirit Pride Project

We serve youth and young adults ages 12-30, housing folks according to age and appropriate gender identification.  We encourage LGBT+ young people and children of LGBT+ families of all religious and spiritual (including nonspiritual and nonreligious) backgrounds to come join us.

https://spp.camp/

Jamboree

Jamboree is a great, inexpensive vacation like you’ve never experienced before! Each year, 275 LGBTQ adults (19+) from the Out & Out club rent a summer camp in the Haliburton area (3 hours northeast of Toronto). You’ll stay in shared cabins in the woods, overlooking a private lake, and spend time swimming, paddle boarding, kayaking, hiking, playing volleyball, making crafts, hosting parties, putting on a talent show – or just relaxing on the dock.

https://outandout.ca/jamboree-summer-camp/jamboree-overview/#

Campus Pride Summer Leadership Academy

The mission of the Campus Pride Summer Leadership Academy is to build leadership capacity among LGBTQ and ally undergraduate college student leaders and to create safer and more inclusive campus communities in the United States.  There is also the Advisor Academy, which is for professionals working with LGBTQ college students on campuses. Expand your knowledge, enhance your skills as well as collaborate with others who share your passion for advising and creating safer, more welcoming communities.

https://www.campuspride.org/CampPride/

CampOut Family Camp

CampOut Family Camp is four days of fun-filled activities for you and your family. Spend quality time together while participating in the camp traditions, activities and games that you choose! We host LGBT focused workshops and a space to facilitate community. Each night, we organize a different camp wide camp-widerogram like bunk challenge, campfire, Top Chef cook-off, and our Annual Obstacle Relay!

http://www.lwcgwc.com/camp-out/

CampOUT

CampOUT is an annual camping event produced by La Garou in French Lick, Indiana for masculine gender outlaws and their supporters. Started in 2005, CampOUT is a place for trans and leatherfolk to come together. It has always been open to anyone of any gender/presentation/sex/orientation who supports freedom of sexual expression for all people.

Mission: To provide social and service opportunities in the levi/leather community for trans male/masculine people, masculine gender outlaws, and their allies.

http://lagarou.org/la-garou-home-2/campout/

Camp No Counselors – LGBTQ & Friends

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to go to summer camp as an adult? We are excited to offer our LGBTQ & Friends camp weekend! While this weekend will have many similarities to our typical camps, it is by no means a regular camp as it was created with and for the LGBTQ community. This is a camp for those who celebrate love (and fun) in all of its beautiful forms.

At this camp, all campers: women, men, gay, straight or otherwise, will board the bus on their own terms, for their own purpose, and on their own unique adventure. This is a chance to be part of a team, to ignite a camp romance, and a chance to be yourself among future best friends. But more than anything, it’s a chance for you to reinvent what camp means to you. At Camp No Counselors, you’ll escape to an all-inclusive weekend experience that combines your favorite aspects of childhood fun with the best of what being a grown-up has to offer. So put away your phone, gather your friends, and free yourself from the stress of adult life.

https://www.campnocounselors.com/

Camp Lost Boys

Camp Lost Boys is a summer camp experience created by men of trans experience for men of trans experience. This camp is a curated environment dedicated to fostering brotherhood, trust, and community building. We provide a traditional camp setting for guys who may have never experienced a good, old-fashioned sleep-away camp. Join us in Colorado for a jam-packed weekend full of physical activity, conversations, arts and crafts and so much more.

https://www.camplostboys.org/

Camp It Up!

Camp It Up!, the first LGBT family camp in the United States, is a rare and wonderful experience for families. It is a dynamic and diverse community that gathers twice each year: in the summer for a one to ten-day family camp program at Feather River Camp in Quincy, CA and for a shorter Winter Camp, held over President’s Day Weekend at Camp Richardson Resort in South Lake Tahoe.

http://www.campitup.org/

Black Lesbians United – BLU Retreat

The BLU retreat is an opportunity for women of African Descent to celebrate, build community, and share good times with women who love women. In the last eight years, over 1000 women have descended upon our private retreat in the hills of Malibu.

http://blacklesbiansunited.org/what-is-the-blu-retreat/

API TransFusion

Asian and Pacific Islander (API) transmasculine individuals from all over the U.S. and world have been seeking each other out to reduce isolation and build community, but until now, there has not been a forum for us to meet on a large scale. The retreat will provide a much-needed opportunity for us to support each other on culturally relevant issues, strengthen our self-acceptance and self-confidence, and create an extended family and community.

https://www.apitransfusion.org

‘Camp’ Camp

A week at Camp includes all activities, meals and accommodations – plus, all the new friends you can handle! With a wide variety of traditional summer activities such as mountain biking, pottery, hiking, lake swimming, sailing, stained glass, canoeing, and softball – along with offerings geared towards our adult clientele such as Broadway dance and figure drawing – you’re sure to find something to keep you active and challenged, returning home relaxed and renewed.  Camp is the perfect place to rediscover the kid in yourself – and maybe even discover the athlete or artist you didn’t know you were.

https://www.campcamp.com/

A-Camp

A-Camp is a unique, dynamic, ever-evolving home-away-from-home queer adult camp where we’ve cherry-picked what we like about other queer events and women’s conferences – hilarious comedy, diverse panels, a chance to learn from industry experts, the occasional dance party and the opportunity to revel in one another’s awesomeness – added heaps of our own original ideas, and found a way to serve it to you for a fraction of what those other events cost.

http://a-camp.org/

Gender Camp

Gender Camp’s container is set to specifically focus on the nuanced needs and interests of transgender and gender diverse people in the context of exploring intimacy, personal growth, transparency, radical honesty, equality, compassion, sexual freedom, and the power of community. The programming is designed to support participants in reevaluating assumptions, considering new possibilities, stretching boundaries, and supporting the exploration of new territory within interpersonal relationships at an individual

http://gendercamp.org/

If the above camps aren’t a good fit, you can also volunteer for one of the youth camps. They usually need RNs, lifeguards, and other support for the camps to have a safe and affirming experience.

Chris Angel Murphy, MSW graduated from the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work in 2014 and has been serving the LGBTQ community since high school by volunteering for events and causes. Identifying as transgender, non-binary, and queer, Chris uses the pronouns they/them/theirs. They have been speaking, training, and consulting for schools, businesses, and organizations regarding LGBTQ competency since May of 2009. Chris runs their own LGBTQ education and consulting business, LGBTQ School, and resources website, www.gendersexuality.info

LGBTQ Camps

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