For Transgender Young People, a Haven From the Outside World.With S’Mores.
MAKANDA, Ill. — The middle schoolers at Camp Indigo Point were hanging out by their cabins after swimming in the lake, practicing the ukulele and stuffing foil packets with ground beef and vegetables, which were now roasting on the fire, seven minutes on each side.
Arin Webber, areal estate agent turned camp counselor, was competing against heat and hunger for the campers’ attention. Still, while they waited for dinner, she nudged the campers to open up a bit.
What were they proud of? she asked the group, nearly all of whom identified as transgender, gender nonconforming or queer and had come from across the country for a week sequestered in the woods. “Being myself and not caring what other people think,” said Ginny, a camper who was wearing the dark-green romper and platform wedges she had been traversing nature in with surprising ease. “In heels!” Ms.
Webber added. “Slay!” fellow campers called out, a term intended as the highest form of praise. Indigo Point was conceived as an oasis, a rare place where campers could seek some distance from an outside world that could be a minefield of adversity for young people wrestling with their gender identity.
