For five days last summer, Hailey Fay got to live in a “dream utopia” for the first time in their life.
That paradise was Action Camp, a five-day sleepaway camp in the Chicago area that has fostered a strong community among queer youth from across Illinois in need of an accepting space. Fay, 18 and of the Chicago suburbs, will be attending the camp again when it starts on Monday.
“Knowing there’s a place you can escape and live in your dream utopia for a week is just perfect,” Fay told the Sun-Times.
Fay said had they gone to the camp when they were younger, they could’ve avoided “a lot of the self-hatred when I was coming out and the fear of not being accepted in the world.”
Action Camp is put on by the Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago and Youth Services. First started in 2012 as a weekend sleepaway camp, it now hosts nearly 50 youth campers ages 12 to 17 and 15 youth leaders from around the state annually.
The exact location of the camp is withheld until just days before it begins as a safety precaution. Although sign-ups are already closed for this year, they will reopen next April, and camp officials suggest those interested apply by the end of that month for the best chance at securing a spot.
While many of the campers are part of the queer community, it is not exclusive. Many campers’ siblings and friends end up joining, Fay said.
Campers’ mornings are spent getting ready for the day and jumping into activities like swimming or archery, and evenings turn to more social events like movie nights and a highly coveted talent show.
And three days out of the week they attend educational sessions put together by youth leaders on subjects like the history of ballroom culture or more systemic issues, like the school-to-prison pipeline.
Fay, who will be a youth leader this year, said an unspoken perk of the camp is peace of mind for youth who find themselves able to focus on being kids, rather than on the series of legislative and judicial actions targeting trans and non-binary people. The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority upheld a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for minors in June.
“Being a queer child now is just getting scarier and scarier, especially not knowing you can be yourself in the future,” Fay said. “It’s nice to not have to argue that you’re a person for a bit.”
For Jay Diaz, program coordinator at Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago, the true highlight of the camp is a mid-week mixer campers often treat as a sort of prom.
It’s one of his favorite parts of the five days because it exemplifies the impact of having an accepting space for the kids, since many of them come from communities that are more hostile to queer people.
“It was beautiful to watch everyone get to be themselves and dance like no one is watching,” Diaz said. “We see a lot of the young campers come out of their shell. It’s amazing to see how they show up on day one because they don’t have access to places where they feel safe to be themselves.
It’s also rewarding for those working for the program, as many are queer themselves.
Diaz said campers get to see reflections of themselves growing up in a world more open to queer identities — with resources he wishes he had at their age — while also coping with the ways the world has grown harsher toward them.
In turn, the campers get to see adults who are like them, showing them there is a future — in addition to being able to bounce advice off of each other on how they are making their own communities more inclusive.
“Although it’s been ramped up this year, LGBTQ+ people have always been marginalized,” Diaz said. “[The campers] are so resourceful, and they’re willing to share the knowledge with each other and stay connected. … For a moment in time, all that matters is that we’re being there for each other.”
Teresa Diaz, a parent of a former camper, said the camp’s community changed her son’s life.
Her son, whose name she didn’t share out of fear of retaliation in their town, had faced discrimination at school both from fellow students and teachers.
At Action Camp, though, her son was able to be himself — and more importantly, be among others who shared his joys and struggles.
Her son intends to return as a counselor at some point after getting a start at an in-state school, though the pair are planning to leave the country, depending on additional policy changes the Trump administration makes targeting trans people.
“As a parent it’s heartwarming,” said Teresa Diaz, a southwest suburban resident who is of no relation to Jay Diaz. “He found his people. … Thank goodness he did. It was him being his true self.”