This Moment Matters: A Message from our Executive Director
Today, federal health officials announced new actions that would significantly restrict access to gender-affirming care for transgender and gender-diverse minors, including changes that could make care inaccessible even in states where it remains legal. While these measures are still unfolding, the message they send is already being felt by young people and families we serve across the country.
At Brave Trails, more than 70% of the young people we serve identify as transgender, nonbinary, or gender-diverse. This news does not exist in abstraction for us. It lands in the hearts and bodies of young people we know by name—young people who come to Brave Trails seeking safety, affirmation, and a chance to breathe.
Before becoming Executive Director of Brave Trails, I spent many years as a mental health professional working directly with LGBTQ+ youth. I have sat across from young people who were struggling not because something was wrong with them—but because the world around them was telling them they did not belong. I have witnessed the distinct wounds caused by rejection, fear, and systemic invalidation. And I have also seen what becomes possible when a young person is supported, affirmed, and given space to grow into who they already are.
Gender-affirming care, whether medical, social, or emotional, is not about ideology. It is about reducing harm, supporting mental health, and allowing young people to survive and thrive. When access to care is restricted, the impact reverberates far beyond hospitals and clinics. It shows up as heightened anxiety, isolation, depression, and fear. It shows up in the questions young people ask us: Will I be safe? Will I still be seen? Will anyone protect me?
This moment underscores why Brave Trails exists.
Brave Trails is not a political organization. We are a youth development and mental health–centered organization grounded in decades of research, lived experience, and care. Our work is about nurturing confidence, resilience, leadership, and joy—especially for young people who are too often othered or erased.
At Brave Trails, young people find:
Affirming adults who understand their lived realities
Peer community where they are not alone
Leadership opportunities that build agency and self-trust
Access to mental health support that is identity-affirming and trauma-informed
When external systems fail young people, community becomes essential. Camps like Brave Trails, scholarships that remove financial barriers, and year-round mental health programming are not extras—they are lifelines.
We will continue to work diligently to expand access to camp through scholarships, recognizing that affirming community and mental health support are not privileges, but essential foundations for LGBTQ+ youth, especially gender-diverse young people, well-being.
To our youth: You are not the problem. You never have been. You are brilliant, resilient, and worthy of love, care, and protection.
To our families and supporters: Your presence matters. Your belief in these young people matters. In moments like this, community is what sustains hope.
Despite closing the year amid further rollbacks in protections for our community, Brave Trails remains steadfast in our mission to nurture, empower, embolden, and heal LGBTQ+ youth. In moments of uncertainty, we stay grounded in what we know to be true: young people thrive when they are affirmed, supported, and believed in. And that is what we will continue to offer.
With care and resolve,
