Camp Pride Is Creating the Queer Summer Camp Experience So Many People Never Got to Have

Reclaiming the camp experience

For a lot of LGBTQ+ people, childhood can feel complicated in hindsight. There are memories filled with joy, but also moments shaped by silence, repression, or the feeling of never fully getting to be yourself. Camp Pride was created from that exact reason. Not from wanting to recreate the past, but from wanting to reclaim the parts of our childhood hat still deserved joy.

Outgrowing one kind of queer space

The founder of Camp Pride, Kristin Holden, came out later in life at 31 years old and remembers stepping into queer spaces that were fun, but no longer fully aligned with where they were emotionally. “I had just outgrown the party scene,” she shares. That realization sparked something deeper.

She started thinking about the younger version of herself and all the experiences she never really got to have openly and authentically. Camp Pride became the answer to that feeling. “I created the event I knew my soul craved at this time in my life.”

More than nightlife

What makes Camp Pride different from many LGBTQ+ events is that the focus is not solely nightlife or partying. There is music, dancing, drag, and celebration, but the experience itself is designed around reconnecting with your inner child.

Campers participate in team competitions, creative workshops, nature activities, prom night, and community programming that feels nostalgic in the best way possible. The energy feels less like a festival and more like stepping into the version of summer camp many queer adults wish they could have experienced safely the first time around.

Rewriting old stories

That emotional connection runs deeply through the programming. Growing up attending church camp every summer, Kristin carried both fond memories and painful contradictions from those experiences. “It reinforced ideas that upheld the patriarchy, white supremacy, and religious bullshit that suppressed my authentic self,” she shares.

Camp Pride became a way to hold onto the joy while rewriting the parts that caused harm. It became an opportunity to reconnect with the younger self that still deserved freedom, playfulness, and acceptance.

Returning with a new kind of freedom

That idea of rewriting your story is something attendees feel too. One camper returned to the exact campground where they had once attended church camp as a child, this time alongside their fiancée at Camp Pride. “She rewrote her story by connecting with her inner child,” the founder recalls. Moments like that seem to define what Camp Pride actually is. It’s not just an event.

It’s a chance to experience joy in a way many people never fully could before.

Adult freedom with intentional care

Of course, Camp Pride still embraces adult freedom and expression too. There are drag performances, burlesque, sex education workshops, and what campers lovingly describe as “spicy” late-night programming. But even within those moments, there’s an intentional balance between fun, safety, exploration, and community care.

Inclusion at the center

One of the most meaningful parts of Camp Pride is how much emphasis is placed on inclusion. The event intentionally prioritizes hiring performers and facilitators from marginalized communities including BIPOC, trans, and disabled creators. The camp also hosts a Land Back Cookout, raising funds for Native Women’s Wilderness while creating space to acknowledge and support Indigenous communities through action, not just words.

Making room for inner child healing

Emotional support is also woven directly into the experience. Camp Pride hosts inner child workshops designed to help attendees process deeper emotions and reconnect with parts of themselves that may have been neglected for years. Following those workshops, campers are given quiet time to reflect, while volunteers known as “Care Bears” offer support, comfort, and simply someone to sit beside if emotions surface.

What lasts after the weekend

But perhaps the clearest sign of Camp Pride’s impact is what happens after the weekend ends. Kristin talks about groups of campers who met during the very first year and have since traveled together, formed lasting friendships, and built real community outside of camp itself. That ongoing connection is ultimately the point.

A reminder to gather in real life

At a time when so much connection exists online, Camp Pride reminds people what it feels like to physically gather, laugh, cry, dance, and exist together in the same space. It creates room for people to feel playful again, vulnerable again, and maybe even a little younger again too.