The Kids of Camp I am, a Decade Later

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  • Performed second edits on the article and the accompanying Instagram post (pictured below)

  • Direct link to the article: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/08/10/magazine/camp-i-am.html

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Fourteen years ago, the mother of a gender-nonconforming son organized a “summer camp” of sorts, known as Camp I Am. There, her child and others like him could wear frilly pastel nightgowns and tend to their My Little Ponies together.

Three other families showed up that first summer, and the camp quickly grew. In 2008, the photographer Lindsay Morris took her son there and began taking pictures of some of his fellow campers. More than a decade later, she asked many of them (pictured here) to be photographed again as they enter adulthood.

Parents found support as they grappled with next steps. Back then, it was perhaps the only camp in the nation for kids who are now sometimes called “gender fluid” or “gender expansive,” children who, regardless of their gender identity, don’t want to be confined in their clothing and play by society’s prescribed boundaries.

These days, it’s much easier to find a summer camp that caters to LGBTQ+ youths than it was when Camp I Am was founded. The camp ended in 2018, but its legacy lives on in the people who attended.

Elias, one of the former campers interviewed by @nytmag, summed up its impact, a conclusion the others echoed: “Camp gave me memories of expressing myself freely and what it felt like to accept myself. And years later, that helped me realize that the things we did at camp weren’t actually something we had to leave in our childhood.”

Tap the link in our bio to see more photos and read interviews with former campers who found acceptance at Camp I Am. Photos by @lindsaymorrisphoto

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