Huge demand for summer trips in Essex that give young people the chance to have fun and build support networks

A year ago, Nick was leaving his house only once a week – to go to Sunday lunch at his grandmother’s house. The 20-year-old from Manchester had dropped out of education because of his anxiety about how people would react to him as a trans man.

A friend he’d met online told him about a summer camping trip run by trans support organisation Gendered Intelligence (GI) and, despite his anxieties, Nick signed up.

“I arrived at the GI camp with no friends, I hadn’t left the house in a year and a half aside from visiting family, and I left full of hope, acceptance, confidence and several extremely strong friendships,” said Nick, who re-enrolled in college shortly after returning from the trip last year.

The camps are the brainchild of youth worker Finn Greig and run for four days and three nights at a campsite in Essex each summer. The first one, which Greig ran on a shoestring, took place in 2010, with eight young people and four workers.

This year, demand has been so high that GI is running two camps, each with 35 young people aged 11-24, and 10 workers, all of whom identify as trans in some way. Even with this increased capacity, they couldn’t include everyone who wanted to participate. The number of people in Britain seeking gender identity treatment has soared in recent years.

“We opened bookings at 6pm and the first camp was full at 6.04pm. The second camp was booked out by 6.25pm. We had 130 people for 70 places. I don’t know what we’ll do next year,” said Greig.



He explains that there is something significant about taking young trans people away on a residential trip, as school camps and other overnight events are often fraught for trans teenagers.



“As a trans person I absolutely feared going away with groups. It becomes a very gendered exercise, it’s all about changing areas, sleeping arrangements, even activities being split into boys and girls,” said Greig.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Gendered Intelligence is now running two camps due to their popularity. Photograph: Gendered Intelligence

As well as participating in traditional camp activities such as canoeing, kayaking, archery and climbing, the group books the swimming pool at the campsite for two afternoons, so they can use it exclusively. For some campers, it is the first time they have been swimming in years.



Jen Kitney, 23, a learning technology apprentice from Essex, said she hadn’t been in a pool for seven years until her first GI summer camp in 2014.

“I’d find a way not to jump in a pool. If I was going on holiday with my family I’d go to the beach wearing jeans and a T-shirt because I was terrified of getting exposed,” said Kitney. “I can remember almost every single moment of the swimming – the looks when people go in for the first time, the games – it was almost magical,” she said.

Some who come to the camp are part of GI’s youth groups, which support trans teenagers. For others, such as Nick, the camp is one of the only places they have met other trans people their age. The support of those relationships, he said, had been crucial.



“Being trans is very hard, you’re sort of left alone to navigate this confusing mess of a healthcare system, to try to work out how social things work, there’s no guide to it all. To have a space people can come together and point you in the right direction is so important,” he said.



The camps are funded largely by donations and fundraising, and cost about £13,000 to run. Despite the expense and hard work involved, GI is committed to continuing them.

“When you’re young and trans, it’s the only thing you can think of because you’re surrounded by people who challenge you, ask you questions, don’t accept you,” said Greig. “What’s really nice is how gender disappears on camp and really doesn’t matter anymore. Being there in a trans-exclusive environment ironically takes the trans away.”

