Church is a good place to show our acceptance of differences, whatever those differences are, so that people may simply be who they are. A wonderful example of this was lived out at Lake Scugog Camp in Toronto Conference. Listen to the story shared by one of the young male staff.

 

A camper arrived at camp for the first time. On his application he had identified himself as transgender, a boy who was beginning to identify as a girl. Before he arrived, camp staff reached out to national office staff to learn about being transgender so that they could welcome this camper.

 

Early in the week the camper said to a male staff person, “I’d like to wear a dress today. Can I do that?” The staffer replied, “Sure you can! You can wear whatever you want here. And if it will make you feel better, I’ll wear a dress too!” The camper was beaming as he rushed to put on his dress.

 

That evening at dinner the young camper wore a pair of heels with his dress. The male staff person could see the young man was struggling walking, so said to him, “Hey! If you want some help on learning how to walk in high heels, you need to talk to Marcel. He really knows how to walk in heels!” The camper looked up at the male staffer, his eyes wide with wonder and awe. “Marcel knows how to walk in high heels?!”

 

The camp showed him he was welcome just the way he was—and his being transgender became a non-issue for the rest of the week because he discovered he was free to be himself!

 

 

 

 

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