From August 3-7, a group of LGBTQ+ teens and allies will get to be their authentic selves, commune with nature and each other, develop activism skills—and generally have the time of their lives.
They will be at Action Camp, a sleepaway camp sponsored by The Alliance, which is affiliated with the Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago.
Since its inception in 2013, Action Camp has grown from an overnight retreat in the city to five days in the wilderness a few hours from Chicago. The exact location is kept confidential except from participants for their safety. This year it will host 48 campers and 16 youth leaders, along with counselors.
“Campers get the opportunity to attend workshops that are led by other young people on topics they’re very interested in and things they want to learn, that they can take back to their communities,” said Julio Flores, The Alliance’s program director, who is also co-director of Action Camp. “But also, there’s that component of having fun and connecting with nature.”
The camp is open to queer and allied young people ranging from those who’ve finished seventh grade to those who’ve finished 11th grade. Youth leaders are drawn from current and recently graduated high school students. There’s still time to apply to be a camper—applications close April 30.
Denver Gier, a college student who has been a camper and youth leader, lauded his experience in both roles.
“I’ve been really lucky that I’ve always been able to be out to my friends and family and be accepted,” said Gier, who is queer and transmasculine. “But one of the best things I’ve gotten to see at camp is seeing people come into themselves and being in an environment where they feel comfortable trying out new names or different pronouns.”
Action Camp lets Gier be more comfortable being more feminine in expression, they said, adding, “It’s a space where there’s a greater understanding of how gender is different from gender expression; there’s an understanding of how queerness can look.”
Gier has presented workshops on queerness in nature and on conservation and sustainability. Others have held workshops on the history of drag, queerness and religion, sex education and more. When the camp ends each year, campers can suggest what workshops they’d like to see the following year.
Campers also take part in river walks, swimming, art projects and seeing animals in their natural habitat. “It’s providing [campers] with the opportunities to reconnect with nature and also build a sense of community,” Flores said.
Many who’ve attended the camp go on to engage in various forms of activism, said Action Camp co-director Lizzy Appleby, who added, “One of the things that I am most proud of is like getting to hear about what former youth leaders are doing in their field.”
Appleby said that one former youth leader who works in the sciences has organized LGBTQ+ resource groups at their company, helping to fund services for LGBTQ+ youth and offering programs for them.
Gier is involved with Students for International Labor Solidarity, which works to assure that the college’s supply chain is free of sweatshop labor, at his school, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, New York,
“Action Camp has really prepared me to go out into my community, even though it’s not necessarily an LGBTQ-specific issue,” Gier said. “It’s definitely helped me with the skills that I need to be successful in organizing on campus.”
Appleby and Flores, who are both queer, both said they wish there had been something like Action Camp when they were younger. But each feels that they have benefited from running it.
“My first Action Camp was in 2023, and I feel like I was having way too much fun,” Flores said. “I feel like my inner child went through a healing process of like, ‘Oh, you deserved this as a young person. And although you didn’t have access to it back then, now you have access to it in some ways.’”
“Action Camp is a building exercise,” said Appleby, who has been involved since 2016. “It’s working together to try to figure out how to be in community with one another in a way that’s not harmful and is supportive and loving and kind. And I wish I had had that experience as a young person.”
Campers are from throughout Illinois. There are usually more applicants than the camp can accommodate, and demand tends to rise in a hostile political climate. The Alliance considers various factors in making acceptance decisions, such as seeking diversity in race, identity and geography.
Repeat attendance is encouraged, and there is a suggested donation of $900 per camper, but no one is turned away for lack of funds. Sidetrack, 3349 N. Halsted St., will host a fundraising party for Action Camp from 5-7 p.m. on Saturday, May 9. It’s a 21-and-older event.
“We want to make sure that people regardless of their status, regardless of their identities, have access to Action Camp,” Flores said. “That way they can just experience joy.”
Find the Action Camp application here.
