Jen Lebron Kuhney

The Republic | azcentral.com

It took getting accepted to "gay camp" for Maxwell Jamison to come out to his parents as transgender four years ago.

The 23-year-old, who works for an after-school program, is now paying it forward as a volunteer youth leader for Camp OUTdoors!, an annual four-day summer camp in Prescott over Labor Day weekend for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth ages 11 to 24.

Camp organizers, including Jamison, are preparing for its seventh year where it expects to have 175 campers and 150 volunteers attend.

Jamison was 19 when he attended the camp for the first time, before his parents knew he was transgender.

His mother later found a name tag with his male name, and Jamison confessed he'd been keeping his true identity a secret for a long time.

"But she came around. The following year she volunteered as camp nurse and has been super supportive of me as a whole," Jamison said.

"Every time I go, I come back and I'm like, 'I just had the best weekend of my life. I'm so excited just to be alive,' " Jamison said.

Jamison's experience is similar to other youth who have attended what organizers and attendees lovingly refer to as "gay camp," and whose parents have been extremely supportive, said Camp Director Kado Stewart.

Stewart dreamed up the idea during her senior project while she attended Prescott College seven years ago.

She said she wanted to create a safe space for LGBT teens and young adults to learn leadership skills and grow their confidence while enjoying the outdoors like so many other youth who attended summer camps.

"People have different ideas of camp, whether they watched (the 1990s television show) 'Salute Your Shorts' or went to church camp," Stewart said. "Our camp has a lot of similar elements but the real joy is watching our youth learn and develop over the weekend."

She added that the camp has traditional camp activities such as rope courses, scavenger hunts and horseback riding, but there is also a major focus on workshops about suicide prevention, LGBT history or how campers can empower themselves in places that don't always accept them for their gender or sexual orientation.

There were 40 campers that first year and Stewart ran the entire thing for about $4,000 – a tight budget considering the cost of feeding campers and the 40 volunteers.

Camp tripled in size the next year and participation has continued to grow, she said.

Now, One-n-Ten, a Phoenix-based non-profit that serves LGBT youth, employs Stewart full time as its director of programs, and the camp has received donations from organizations such as Southwest Airlines and the Arizona Department of Health Services. PetSmart is funding nearly all the costs for the camp this year.

The program is free, and out-of-state campers pay $400.

Stewart said potential campers worried about the fee can apply to have it waived. She added she doesn't want money to be a factor for why someone would not attend camp.

The program is competitive seven- about 450 people applied for this year's camp. Organizers said they look for people from diverse backgrounds and experiences. There are some homeless youth who have attended camp as well as a camper whose parents paid for all the buses that shuttled campers from Phoenix to Prescott.

Only about 10 percent of the campers are 19 or older, and often serve in leadership roles.

Jamison is now a member of OUTscouts!, which is a group of about a dozen people under the age of 24 who go on camping trips, teach outdoors workshops, select counselors for the camp and help with planning including each year's theme.

It's too late for those interested in attending or volunteering to apply for camp in August, but One-n-Ten has programs and volunteer opportunities all year. Applications for the 2015 camp will open next year.

More details: onenten.org.