The North Face is one of the sponsors behind an overnight summer camp where children as young as 12 years old who identify as LGBT are encouraged to perform in drag.
Called Camp Brave Trails, the program has locations in both Southern California and New York and enjoys support from the outdoor brand The North Face, as well as shoe companies Toms and Chacos, among other brands. The North Face has sponsored Camp Brave Trails for multiple years, stating in 2021 that it was donating over $70,000 to the organization.
Videos posted by Camp Brave Trails reveal that young children involved in the program dress and perform in drag while wearing makeup.
“Welcome to Camp Brave Trails, where we blend all the traditional elements of a summer camp with an LGBTQ+ twist,” the camp’s site reads. “Our camp is thoughtfully designed to serve as a safe haven for LGBTQ+ youth.” The camp boasts that children as young as 12 have gone on to start LGBT clubs at their middle schools after attending the camp.
The camp’s website explains that campers will be immersed in “a space that encourages positive self-discovery, embraces diverse gender expressions, and nurtures creativity” and will have their “name, pronouns, and identity not only respected but celebrated!”
The camp’s founders, Kayla and Jessica Weissbuch, appeared on the Kelly Clarkson Show to tout the program and explain how they run the camp. “All of our housing is genderless, bathrooms are genderless, we ask for names and pronouns from campers and they can change them all they like,” Kayla Weissbuch said before adding that the camp has a clothing closet to allow children to explore their gender identity through different types of clothes. “I was able to perform, do drag, I was able to do … so many activities,” one camper who appeared on the show noted.
The camp is open to children between the ages of 12 and 17, with the site explaining that “we divide campers into cabin groups by age; we never divide campers by gender.”
While Camp Brave Trails boasts several different sponsors, The North Face has repeatedly pushed a far-left agenda on both gender and race. The company most recently encouraged customers to complete a diversity, equity, and inclusion training course called “allyship in the outdoors,” enticing them with a 20% discount. The North Face was also met with backlash over its “Summer of Pride” campaign, which featured advertisements highlighting a drag performer.
The company sponsors a high-profile mountain climber who is currently being sued by America First Legal, which filed a lawsuit alleging that the climber and a North Face employee ruined a man’s career and got him fired over false accusations of racism.
Camp Brave Trails is just one of the many overnight camps marketed specifically for children who identify as LGBT. A Daily Wire investigation found that similar camps operate across the country, with some accepting children as young as four years old. The Trans Youth Equality Foundation, an organization that encourages children to wear binders, hosts a youth camp for “transgender and non-binary” children in a “confidential location in New England” where children as young as 7 years old may attend.
Camp Indigo, a program with locations in California and Colorado that is only open to those who identify as transgender or non-binary, teaches children as young as 12 years old about “trans history and trans focused sex education.” There’s also Camp Lilac, an Ohio-based camp that hosts “trans-centered activities” such as voice training, as well as makeup and hair tutorials.
New Hampshire-based Camp Aranu’tiq is open to children as young as 8 who identify as transgender. The camp’s parent organization, Harbor Camps, received $25,000 from the Tawani Foundation, an organization established by transgender billionaire Jennifer Pritzker, who is also the cousin of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat.
Neither The North Face nor the camp responded to requests for comment.