Queer kid camps: youngsters and teens from queer families get a summer recess from homophobia.(TRENDS)

"These kids have to come out every day;" says Holly Wagg, president of the Ottawa-based not-for-profit organization that oversees inclusive Camp Ten Oaks. "It could just be someone saying 'Let's draw a picture of our families!' and you're in kindergarten, you don't know anyone--what should you do?' Wagg's group has one answer: a camp specifically (but not exclusively) for children of gay; lesbian, bisexual, or transgender parents, opening its tent flaps this summer in Ontario's Gatineau Hills. Ten Oaks staffers looked to the success of six like-minded North American summer programs--most notably; Camp Ten Trees, run by Seattle dykes amid snowcapped peaks and glimmering water; and New Jersey's uberprogressive, consensus-run Mountain Meadow, where Wagg was Teen Camp director.

These one and two-week retreats, mostly initiated in the past decade by established gay community …