As Jewish summer camps across the country reckon with LGBTQ inclusion, one upstate New York camp is bucking the gender-binary tradition completely.

Eden Village Camp, a sleep-away farm camp in Putnam Valley, N.Y., known for its “farm-to-table” mission, is rolling out the first-ever “all-gender” bunk this summer, to accommodate gender non-conforming campers as well as “allies” — cisgender campers who opt-in to the all-gender bunk.

“More and more campers and staff were saying ‘the gender binary is not working for me,’” said Yoni Stadlin, director and founder of Eden Village Camp. While “many adults are entrenched in their understanding of the binary,” young people are increasingly aware that “there are not ‘just’ boys and ‘just’ girls,” he said. “The goal is to normalize this.”

Eden Village Camp, alongside Camp Tawonga, a Jewish summer camp in

Northern California, are the first Jewish camps to provide such an

option. The introduction comes as camps across the country come to

terms with an increasing number of campers who identify as LGBTQ or

gender-fluid. Camp Ga’avah, a Jewish day camp housed by a Long Island JCC, caters specifically to Jewish LGBTQ campers. After a one-

week pilot last summer, the initiative — for campers ages 6 to 17 — will

run for four weeks this year.

“Every parent has a story about how camp [Ga’avah] changed their

child,” said Ellen Diamond, the camp’s director. Diamond — herself the

parent to a 20-year-old transgender son — is passionate about expanding

options for LGBTQ youth in the Jewish community. Camp Ga’avah

offers all gender bathrooms and changing areas; as soon as campers

arrive, they are given name tags to specify their preferred gender

pronouns. The camp is primarily staffed by queer-identifying

counselors.

Like Eden Village Camp — which received a substantial grant from UJA-

Federation of New York to support the development and implementation

of the first all-gender bunk — Camp Ga’avah has received “generous”

financial support from UJA-Federation, said Diamond. (She declined to

specify exact amounts.)

“These campers will know that Judaism accepts them,” said Diamond.

With nearly 20 campers enrolled this year, Ga’avah has already doubled

its numbers since last summer. “Our numbers will keep going up,”

Diamond said.

In July, SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva is also launching a

first-ever queer Talmud camp for adults, with UJA’s support, at the

Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center.

While a growing number of camps, like Camp Ga’avah, cater

exclusively to LGBTQ campers, the introduction of an all-gender option

within a more traditional camp setting is an innovation, and may set a

precedent for camps going forward, said Stadlin.

At the bucolic camp grounds in upstate New York, Eden Village Camp’s

experimental bunk will extend beyond the four cabin walls:

Conversation circles, a Saturday camp activity that had previously split

male and female campers, will now include a “genderful” circle, for

gender non-conforming campers and allies who opt-in. And bathroom

facilities across camp will provide all-gender options.

“The main concern I hear from parents is ‘but what if boys and girls in

the same bunk kiss,’” said Stadlin, 40. This “knee-jerk” response shows

that “most of us are still stuck in a heterosexual mindset,” he said,

pointing out that the same concern should apply equally to gay boys in

an all-male bunk. “There’s nothing intrinsically sexual about all genders

in one bunk.”

There’s no reason this should be radical.

That notion is underscored by a strict policy precluding any romantic

relationships between campers in the all-gender bunk. The all-gender

bunk will also be equipped with private changing rooms that campers

can choose to use.

“This new option might seem shocking because it is different,” said

Stadlin, recalling the ‘no boys in a girls bunk’ rule of his camper days.

“But there’s no reason this should be radical.”

The new housing option, which will welcome six campers entering

eighth and ninth grades, does not mean the end of single-sex cabins, said

Stadlin.

“We are not disbanding gendered bunks,” said Stadlin, who said single-

sex bunks can serve a unique purpose, including “modeling healthy

masculinity for boys.”

Zosia Zaks, the parent to two Eden Village Camp campers, is looking forward to his 14-year-old’s enrollment in the all-gender bunk this summer.

Zaks, who himself identifies as transgender, said his child is “on her

own gender journey” and hasn’t decided yet what gender feels most

fitting. The all-gender bunk gives his teen the “opportunity to continue

exploring.”

“I told the camp director ‘you will save someone’s life someday by

doing this,’” said Zaks, 50, who recalled his own conflicted experience

at a Jewish sleepaway camp several decades ago. Then, he was in the

girls bunk across the lake from the boys bunk. “I remember thinking ‘I

should be over there,’ but there was no language then,” he said.

Now, to see his child with an opportunity like this feels “larger than

life.” “Even if my child had no questions about their gender, we would

want to support the bunk as allies.”

Ariel Vegosen, the 39-year-old founder of Shine, a company that trains

and consults with organizations around gender inclusion, worked

extensively with the staff at Eden Village Camp in the months leading up to summer 2019. It is the first Jewish camp to employ her services, she

said.

“We see this as a pilot for the broader Jewish world,” said Vegosen, who

draws on personal experience for her consulting work. Vegosen

identifies as gender queer and grew up in the Jewish community.

“The Jewish community is finally stepping up,” said Vegosen, who

recalls spending “years” fighting to be part of the community. “Now,

camps and other organizations are saying ‘we want you here.’ But most

people have no idea what that means.”

Yes, boys and girls may fall in love at camp. But so might girls and girls. And boys and boys.

Educating about gender inclusion means starting with the basics,

Vegosen said, including vocabulary workshops (“I see a lot of confusion

about the term ‘cis-gender’ and about who the trans community is,”

Vegosen said.)

Concerns about unintended relationship that could come from the all-

gender bunk belies a “deep misconception” about what gender means,

said Vegosen.

“So many well-meaning people, even those who consider themselves

allies, are stuck in a binary way of thinking,” Vegosen said. “Yes, boys

and girls may fall in love at camp. But so might girls and girls. And boys

and boys. And, of course, those who fall outside either of those rigid

categories,” Vegosen said. “It’s time to start stepping outside what our

culture has, for so long, defined as ‘normal.’ Camp is a good place to

start.”