The University of British Columbia (UBC) is inviting youths aged 14 to 21 to join a queer campout this summer, complete with drag queen and identity classes. The camp’s mentor stated his purpose is to “free” participants from “colonial notions” and “social constructions” like “gender,” “the nuclear family” and believing humans are “superior” to “the rest of nature.”The school is promoting the summer camp as helping “youth explore their identity,” comparing the lifestyle to “pretending to be a superhero” as a child. "Young people can imagine being whomever they want once again this summer,” the UBC website states. The summer camp promotes “queer, trans, two-spirit, questioning, and allied youth” lifestyles. "Young people questioning their gender identity are encouraged to attend “drag workshops, leadership building opportunities and community.”Faculty of education doctoral student Daniel Gallardo, whose drag name is “Gaia Lacandona,” will be acting as “community mentor” and “one of two drag parents” for the camp, which UBC is calling, “CampOUT!” Gallardo in the advertizement commented on the “impact” of the camp on participants as well as "Daniel themself.” The camp mentor said he “adapts” his “academic work to teach young people how to explore identity and what it means to be human.”Gallardo slammed “colonial notions of humans as superior to and separate from the rest of nature” and said humans should not be put in “categories.” “I want them to embody their imagination and free themselves from social constructions that have been imposed on our identities like gender and the nuclear family,” he said, adding campers are encouraged “to think about decolonializing drag.” “Inherent hierarchies in the terms ‘drag queen’ and ‘drag king’ sound be replaced with “drag monsters,” he said. In his class, Gallardo immediately kicks things off with a drag dress-up exercise where campers can wear costumes and “apply some makeup like eyeshadows and glitter.”Youths “can wear diverse clothes regardless of their gender assigned at birth,” he said. “Then, we experiment with different types of movement: walking the runway, pretending to be an animal outside or an alien from outer space,” he said, before the youths pick out “a drag name.”It may take a while for “some of my drag children” to choose a name, but that’s okay, he said. After further activities, “the campers bring their drag creatures to life and become part of my drag-chosen family.”CampOUT! is not new — it has been running since 2009 by individuals passionate about “decolonizing" and "anti-racist and disability justice approaches to education.”It is held on a remote island accessible only by boat. Organizers will pack supplies for the 65 students it expects to host. The camp is funded by donations. “I have a ‘proud drag parent’ badge that the campers made for me to wear, and two of my drag children went on to become cabin leaders, so we are becoming a whole dynasty,” said Gallardo.
