A Message About What’s Happening in Kansas
Dear Brave Trails Community,
At Brave Trails, we believe LGBTQ+ youth are not just our future. They are our now.
We are deeply concerned by recent changes in Kansas that invalidate updated gender markers on driver’s licenses and enforce restrictions requiring transgender people to use bathrooms aligned with sex assigned at birth. Policies like these do more than alter paperwork. They impact real young people navigating school, travel, healthcare, and daily life.
For transgender and nonbinary youth, identification documents are not political statements. They represent safety and dignity. They allow young people to move through the world without fear of being questioned, denied, or put at risk.
As we know, when laws make it harder for young people to travel safely or have their identities respected, the ripple effects are profound, particularly on mental health. We are living through an era where LGBTQ+ youth are facing heightened anxiety and uncertainty. Moments like this reinforce why affirming, consistent community support is essential to their personal development and well-being.
At Brave Trails, more than half of our campers identify as trans or nonbinary. They come to us from across the country and globe, looking for connection, leadership, and the relief of existing without scrutiny or explanation. At camp, they are not questioned or reduced, and do not have to defend who they are. They are affirmed. They are embraced. They can breathe deeply, form lifelong friendships, and discover the strength that has always lived within them, waiting to come out and forge new paths.
We remain committed to cultivating spaces where LGBTQ+ youth can exhale, be celebrated for who they are, and grow in community, especially when the world feels heavy and unsure.
Our response to policies rooted in exclusion has always been radical love, community care, and leadership development. We will continue expanding access to mental health resources, scholarships, and multi-state year-round programming so that every young person who needs us can find a place to belong.
Every LGBTQ+ young person deserves to live freely and fiercely, not in fear but in community.
With resolve and gratitude,
