Gay Camp?? (The good kind)

Ok well I just got back from my second year at "big gay camp" (that's our unofficial name for it, not the actual name ) and I thought it'd be a good question to ask (without going into any specifics of course) has anyone here been on a camp for LGBTIQA (etc. etc.) youth? If so, what was your experience with it like??

I thought I'd share a little bit about my experience, because I had a fantastic time, and I wanted to share it with everyone.

If anyone has ever had the chance to be in a relaxed social setting they may sort of understand, we had 50 or more Same sex attracted young people there, It. Was. AWESOME :icon_bigg and that's after it being my second year too.

6-8 Representatives from all the statewide rural LGBTIQA groups (there's roughly 8-10 of them) came, as well as some guests from Tasmania. People travelled over 6 hours to attend, which is pretty amazing to think about. The Camp was run alongside a local LGBTIQA Festival, so that we could tie in and attend events within it.

We had members of the LGBTIQ community come in and discuss with us what it was like for them growing up in their time, we had a fantastic Trans Speaker come (this was her second year) and tell us what it was like to grow up through the 70s/80s/90s when there was little to nothing known about transgender people or issues.
We had a Lesbian Christian come in and discuss what it was like to grow up conflicting between her faith and her sexuality, and how she overcame it, we had the police come in and discuss the legal protections we have here and discuss the GLLO program (Gay and Lesbian Liason Officers, cops who are taught about GLBTIQA issues and advise local police forces)
We had a guy come out and talk to us about how with the newly elected government we're going to be losing rights, and how using the media in the right way can de-demonize homosexuality in the public eye.

We participated in a youth sexual health trivia event, against all the other youth groups, as well as some from Melbourne, and my local group actually won, which was fantastic, (because it gives us additional funding to further our groups projects.) which was followed by a Dance Party, which was great fun.

That was the first day of camp

The second day was a little more active, we got out and we took part in the festival's street parade, with all our groups marching alongside other parts of the states community, afterwards we attended the local carnival, where we picked up a lot of freebies, ran a youth space, and did various other small things.

When we returned the organising council ran a consultation session, so that they could determine where the key issues within the state lay for the youth groups, and attempt to combat those issues as best as possible.

Following that we had a movie night, which was fun, and that was the end of day 2

Day 3 was today and the last day of the camp, we had a cyber safety presentation and discussion with local agencies who are trying to understand and determine best practices for logical cyber safety for families. (not just a giant firewall like our federal govts plan)

Following that we took the customary group picture and said our goodbyes, it was heartbreaking, because we'd all made so many new friends on the camp, but then again... there's always next year :icon_bigg

Well that's my story, any thoughts?? anyone experience a camp similar to mine? Has anyone even had a camp for LGBTIQ youth??

 

yeah I feel lucky lol, I wish it was something we could have happen everywhere, because every time people walk away from one of these camps they find they've learned a ton, and don't feel so isolated anymore