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Where LGBTQ youth find their people, place, and passion. We host a leadership summer camp for LGBTQ Youth and year round programs.
 
 

OUR MISSION

BUILD THE NEXT GENERATION
OF LGBTQ LEADERS

 
 
 
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PEOPLE, PLACE, & PASSION!

Brave Trails is a national non-profit organization dedicated to LGBTQ+ youth leadership. We offer accredited summer camps, backpacking trips, family camps, mental health services, meet-up groups, and year-round leadership programming. All of our programs focus on helping LGBTQ+ youth find what they need most to thrive: their people, their place, and their passion. Nothing makes us more proud than seeing our youth take the skills they gain in our programs and use them to create meaningful change in their communities.

 

WHAT WE DO

 
 

LGBTQ Youth Summer camp

Welcome to Camp Brave Trails, where we blend all the traditional elements of a summer camp with an LGBTQ+ twist! Our camp is thoughtfully designed to serve as a safe haven for LGBTQ+ youth, offering them a unique opportunity to forge lasting connections within their community, meet caring adult mentors, and develop invaluable leadership skills.

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LGBTQ+ family camp

Our Family Camp weekends at Brave Trails were developed to address the critical need for spaces where LGBTQ+ families can unite and construct a strong, supportive community. During our family camp weekends, families are provided with the chance to connect with others who share similar experiences, immersing themselves in the magic of a camp retreat setting!

LGBTQ+ BACKPACKING

Our seven-day LGBTQ+ backpacking program is tailored to empower youth ages 14-19. Discover the art of backpacking, connect with the serenity of nature, and nurture a profound sense of community within a secure and supportive environment. Join us for an unforgettable journey that fosters both personal growth and lasting connections.

 
 
 

Year-Round Programs

At Brave Trails, we believe in maintaining connections and fostering growth throughout the year with our free to low-cost year-round programs. We provide a secure, enjoyable environment for meet-up groups, online activities, leadership workshops, and a variety of other engaging experiences to keep our campers connected and thriving beyond the campfire.

Mental Health Program

Our Mental Health program is meticulously crafted to cater to the unique emotional needs of LGBTQ+ youth and their caregivers. We offer comprehensive one-on-one therapy and group therapy sessions, connecting LGBTQ+ youth and families with dedicated pre-licensed clinicians who are actively participating in our LGBTQ+ clinical training programs. 

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Consulting & Speaking

Our Directors promote LGBTQ+ inclusivity by sharing expertise at conferences and consulting with camps nationwide. Through these engagements, they provide guidance and strategies on creating environments that are not only more welcoming but also safer for  LGBTQ+ folks, noting the importance of protecting marginalized communities. 

 
 

& SO MUCH MORE!

Since we started in 2014, we’ve grown in so many ways. We don’t plan on stopping now. More impactful programs to come!

 
 

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

One of the most important parts of our mission is making sure our camps and program are accessible to all LGBTQ+ youth. We proudly offer at least $100,000 in financial assistance funds every year.

 
 

OUR IMPACT

 
 
 

in 2023, We’VE dONE some amazing things.

Here are the highlights:

  • We provided 7 weeks of overnight leadership camp – four 10-day sessions in California and one 9-day session in Maryland!

  • We proudly served over 400 campers from 50 states and 17 countries.

  • Through your donations, we were able to make camp more accessible by awarding over $123,572 in financial assistance to campers in need.

  • We hired 2 associate directors, 50 paid staff, and 90 volunteers to join our unicorn team as role models to the LGBTQ+ youth we serve.

  • We hosted our forth annual LGBTQ family camp, where 123 campers had a quintessential camp experience with other awesome families.

  • We took 13 campers and 5 staff on 2 queer-focused backpacking trips exploring the Pacific Crest Trail and Sierra Nevada Mountains!

  • We provided 700 hours of queer-affirming mental health services to youth in California. Our mental health team will be expanding to 11 therapists in the fall of 2023.

  • We broke ground on our forever home, which will be the first-ever summer camp & community space solely dedicated to LGBTQ+ youth!

  • All of this and more! Join our newsletter to stay connected.

 

OUR STATS

FOR THE PAST 9 SUMMERS!

1,493

LGBTQ youth served

50

different states

 

17

different countries

2

campsites

(CA & MD)

 
 
 
 
 

IMPACT STORIES

 
 

COOPER (17 YEARS OLD)

In early 2020, Cooper begain a mentorship (though our Brave Trails Mentorship Program) with their cabin counselor from the summer before. Part of the mentorship program is planing and completeing a leadership project together over the course of the year-long journey. When the pandemic hit in March, Cooper experienced what many LGBTQ youth began to experience, despair, fear, and most of all, isolation. Knowing they were not alone in these feeling, Cooper designed and launched the Connect Collective, with the help of their mentor. The Connect Collective is a pen pal matching program for LGBTQ. In just 6 months, the program received hundreds of requests from LGBTQ youth around the world to be matched. Cooper used the skills they learned from camp to identify a problem and create a positive solution, with support from from their amazing staff mentor! Most of all, Cooper helped ease some of pain of 2020 and bring some much needed community when kids needed it most.

MASON & CORY

Mason & Cory met at Brave Trails summer camp as 14 year olds. Both were struggling were gender dysphoria and the pair found comfort in their shared love of musicals and social justice. Mason and Cory stayed connected throughout the school year and attend the same camp session every summer. In their third year of camp, Mason and Cory participated in the Brave Trails social entrepreneurship program, where campers learn to design, plan, and execute projects for social good. The pair worked together to create and print a pamphlet that focused on explaining gender related issues in a ways anyone could understand. The pamphlet was so well written that Staff members and campers were excited to take it home to use as a resource for teaching at home.

Their experience at camp sparked the idea to create Bringing Activism and Collaboration Through You (B.ACTY), which centers around creating informational pamphlets discussing topics prominent in the media and activism, in a way anyone can understand and interpret. Their goal is to encourage people to get involved within their capabilities by providing them with rudimentary information and further resources they can use to get involved in social issues. They also hope to provide information from outside resources to share and get people involved, such as news articles, change.org petitions, and information directly from the US government. Currently they have a Facebook page, Instagram account, and a website is in the works.

Mason and Cory recently graduated from the Brave Trails counselor in training program and will be serving as staff members at camp this coming summer.

CHANCE & RYAN (16 YEARS OLD)

Chance and Ryan meet at their small, public high school in Oklahoma. As a gay teen and a transgender teen in an unsupporive area, they creating an unbreakable bond with each other. Chance and Ryan dreamed of starting an LGBTQ school club at their high school so other teens could find friendship, support, and allyship. When they approached their principal about the idea, he said the club would be “inappropriate” and denied their request. Shortly after, Chance found Camp Brave Trails on Instagram and convinced Ryan to sign up as well. Both attended on a scholarship and had their flights to camp sponsored. While at Camp Brave Trails, Change and Ryan attend the '“Knowing Your Rights As An LGBTQ Youth” workshop by the ACLU. It was at this workshop that they learned their principal did not have the right to deny them the right to start their LGBTQ club. With the help of the Brave Trails team, Chance and Ryan we linked with local lawyers who helped them fight for rights. With the education, confidence, and support they received at camp, Chance and Ryan were able to fight and gain permission to start their LGBTQ Club, the first of its kind at the school. The club had over 20 student members in their first year and is thriving!

LOU (12 Years Old)

Lou came out at the very young age of 11 years old. As a young, out and proud non-binary kid, Lou’s parent struggled to find places where they could meet friends and safely be who they are. The isolation took a toll on Lou and they began to notice a steep decline in Lou’s mental health. During the school year, Lou met one of the directors of Brave Trails and felt as though they were destined to attend camp. Lou took the next few months to do all of their own fundraising to get to camp and raised enough to attend a session! At camp, Lou began to blossomed! They quickly bonded with their cabin, attended leadership workshops, and even performed a dance at the camp talent show. Lou was a natural leader among their peers. Their transformation was astonishing.

After camp, Lou went back to school and was hungry to create a space in their community that felt as warm, welcoming, and joyful as camp. Lou set out to start an LGBTQ school group in their middle school, even though these spaces were rare for their age group. They took it upon themself to find a teacher that would be the advisor and used the skills they learned at camp to create a programing curriculum for the group. When the club met for the first time, 40 students attend! This was astonishing as Lou figured no one would show up. The group spent the year raising awareness for LGBTQ rights, which created a more aware and open campus. The group is still up and running strong.

PHOENIX (15 YEARS OLD)

Phoenix first came to camp at the age of 14. He had recently come out as transgender and was struggling with gender dysphoria. His anger and sadness made it difficult to make it though each day at home. Knowing that Phoenix needed to build his confidence, his parent signed him up for camp. At camp, he was resistant the staff, pushed away his peers, and had decided he would make it his goal to be miserable at camp, without even giving it a chance. On the fourth day of camp, Phoenix signed up attended a soccer program, figuring they would sit out for most of it. While warming up, Phoenix was paired with another camper who had also recently camp out as trans. The two got to talking and quickly bonded over their favorite soccer team. They sat together at lunch and became inseparable for the rest of camp. They moved their bunks next to each other, attended all of the same programs, and performed magic tricks together at the camp talent show. This was the first real friend Phoenix has ever had.

The next summer, when staff members asked Phoenix how his year was, he replied:

“Last year, I would sit alone at school and do whatever I could to lay low. I wanted to get involved but feared I would not be welcome or someone would out me. Meeting my best friend at camp and hearing from staff members about the importance of mental health made me feel comfortable asking to see a therapist at home. Brave Trails gave me a home where I know I will always be accepted. Now I am working with the student senate at my school to create a gender neutral uniform option and I am working on my own to create more gender neutral bathrooms within my school. After summer, I will be acting as Youth Advisor for a social justice internship hosted by The Center in downtown Manhattan. I feel like life just began.”

NELLY (FAMILY CAMP)

Nelly and her wife had recently moved to Los Angeles from the Midwest for work. They quickly learned that though Los Angeles is a very progressive place, it can also be difficult to find community, especially for LGBTQ families. Nelly heard about Brave Trails Family Camp at a local pride event and though they had never been camping as a family before, they thought they would give it shot. Here is the review Nelly left for us after camp:

“For the first time, my kids didn’t have to explain why they have two moms or why I have a short, buzzed haircut. They are always good sports about it but it’s nice to be around other kids and parents who just get it. I didn’t get any ridiculous questions from other parents, like “Who is the mom and who is the dad in the relationship”. I even met other families who adopted their kids like we did and we got to connect about the ups and downs of that process. You can’t put a price on an experience like this. That feeling of bliss and belonging is unparalled. Our family left feeling closer to one another and hopeful that we now have a circle of family camp friends to start building our LA community.”