On May 9, the National Park Service (NPS) sent employees a memo that effectively banned them from participating in Pride events in uniform. The memo from Deputy Director for Operations Frank Lands didn’t mention Pride specifically, but said that the agency was in the process of updating its uniform policy, which determines when and where employees can wear their official NPS apparel outside park property. 鈥淲hile in uniform we represent the NPS and have a responsibility to balance our personal and professional lives,鈥� he wrote.

Until those updates came through (no date was specified), staff would be prohibited from 鈥減articipating in or attending any demonstration or public event wherein the wearing of the uniform could be construed as agency support for a particular issue, position or political party,鈥� the memo said.

When I saw the news, my heart sank. As a queer and transgender person, it felt like the agency was turning its back on me and my community. For years, the NPS has championed LGBTQ+ rights. An official Park Service unit has marched in San Francisco鈥檚 annual Pride parade . And just last year, Yosemite鈥檚 Instagram feed proudly featured uniformed staff with Pride flags. The agency鈥檚 own Stonewall National Monument in Greenwich Village, New York, commemorates an iconic piece of queer history. In 1969, police raids on LGBTQ+ patrons at the Stonewall Inn bar led to riots, then six days of demonstrations, marking a turning point for civil rights.

The initial memo raised enough questions that Lands sent a second, in which he noted NPS has not canceled in-park Pride events. He also explained that the process for uniform approvals in recent years had been inconsistent. 鈥淎pproving participation in some events and not others could be seen as discrimination based on viewpoint, which we just cannot do,鈥� Lands wrote. 鈥淲hile it may not feel like it, holding to our policy promotes equitable treatment of these requests.鈥�

The memos led to pushback from employees, and in late May, LGBTQ+ advocates took to social media to raise their concerns. Drag queen and environmentalist Pattie Gonia posted on her Instagram, 鈥淣ational Park Service this is NOT what allyship looks like鈥his year pride really is a protest.鈥�

Finally, on May 24, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland sent out a memo walking back the initial guidance. Her note didn鈥檛 specifically mention Pride, but talked more generally about upcoming 鈥渟pecial emphasis months,鈥� a designation that includes Pride, along with African American History Month, Native American Heritage Month, and others. Her memo specified that staff was now permitted to participate in uniform in external events related to these months.

It鈥檚 a fraught time to be a visibly queer or trans outdoor recreationalist. Anti-LGBTQ+ policies have gained momentum across the country, including in states that are home to some of our most beloved wild places. If you want to visit America鈥檚 most popular national park, the Great Smoky Mountains, you鈥檒l pass through North Carolina or Tennessee, which have seen a combined 46 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced this year . Yellowstone spans three states鈥擨daho, Wyoming, and Montana鈥攚here a combined 25 bills keep trans youth out of school sports, redefine gender in state law, and prohibit state contractors from using their preferred bathroom, among other rollbacks to LGBTQ+ rights.

When I was 17, my best friend and I drove through the night from Maryland to kayak in Everglades National Park. That was over 20 years ago, but I鈥檇 have to think very carefully before visiting that park today. In 2023, the Human Rights Campaign issued an advisory for LGBTQ+ people visiting Florida due to the political environment there.

I recently moved from Bozeman, Montana, to New York鈥檚 Hudson Valley, where Stonewall鈥檚 influence emanates well into Catskills and Adirondacks. It seems like I stumble into an LGBTQ+ event at every state park or ski area, and based on casual observations, I suspect our local climbing gym is majority queer. I鈥檓 protected by anti-discrimination laws, and my partner and I rarely draw any attention or negative commentary. But back in Bozeman, where I lived for 12 years, the police just evacuated my favorite cafe because of a bomb threat related to a drag story hour. My partner and I won鈥檛 let threats, U-hauls full of , anti-LGBTQ+ laws, or a wishy-washy Interior Department stop us from visiting western national parks this summer. But with two young kids in tow and their well-being on our minds, it does mean we will be looking over our shoulders in a way we don鈥檛 at home.

For people who鈥檝e been told they don鈥檛 fit in for their entire lives, uniforms can signify a hard-won sense of belonging and help LGBTQ+ staff and visitors feel welcome in the parks. 鈥淚 think for me, personally, growing up, I never saw park rangers that looked like me,鈥� says a member of the Park Service鈥檚 LGBTQ+ employee resource group (ERG) who spoke with me on condition of anonymity. 鈥淪o to be able to wear the uniform with my multiple identities, it means a lot in affirming who I am, and also my place in the agency. And that others like me can be in the Park Service as well.鈥�

Now, imagine having that affirmation revoked, and being asked to show up as less than your whole self. It鈥檚 a little bit like dating someone who doesn鈥檛 want to be seen with you in public.

When I reached out for comment about the series of memos, the NPS sent along a short statement. 鈥淩egional Directors will determine the level and nature of NPS participation, considering operational and budgetary factors,鈥� they wrote. 鈥淎s we do every June, parks will be hosting and participating in Pride events and sharing stories that recognize the joy and perseverance of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community.鈥�

But while Lands indicated in his memos that the updated uniform guidance was largely a response to an influx of staff requests to wear uniforms at events, I spoke with several NPS staffers involved in the LGBTQ+ ERG who believe that their leadership is becoming more risk-averse.

鈥淐ommunity events have become more politicized,鈥� says the ERG member we spoke with. 鈥淚nstead of creating a distinction between a political event and an identity-based event, or civil rights-oriented event, leadership is just doing a blanket no.鈥� Administrators denied approval for uniformed participation in at least one Latino heritage festival, according to two NPS staff members we interviewed.

I spoke with several employees who mentioned that the timing and nature of the memos have damaged staff morale and trust within the agency. According to members of the Park Service鈥檚 LGBTQ+ employee resource group, this isn鈥檛 an isolated incident, but part of a pattern of leadership denying staff requests to participate in Pride events while in uniform.

LGBTQ+ advocates fear the initial memo, although already reversed, could still affect future Pride event approvals. 鈥淭he stuff that scares me is the non-official policy decisions that will be made as a result of this,鈥� says Mikah Meyer, an LGBTQ+ advocate who became the first person to visit every NPS site in a single trip. 鈥淲hat well-intentioned superintendent is going to see all of this hubbub and think maybe it鈥檚 safer not to approve this Pride thing this year or this is controversial so let鈥檚 wait a year.鈥�

Following Haaland’s memo, Pattie Gonia sent an email to reporters echoing that sentiment. 鈥淲e remain cautious on how the updated policy will be implemented,鈥� Pattie Gonia told reporters. She noted that she is advocating for safeguards that would allow NPS employees to appeal permission denials from park leadership. In her email, she congratulated queer Park Service employees for their successful advocacy and thanked the NPS and Haaland for listening to staff and the public.

There is a huge discrepancy between queer people and the rest of the population when it comes to safety and quality of life, which means that we need agencies like NPS to be stalwart in their support. Knowing that our civil rights are considered within the bounds of national parks could make the difference for whether or not an LGBTQ+ person chooses to take advantage of a system that is meant for everyone.

This is a tough political environment for public agencies, and I have to wonder if NPS was just trying to avoid legal conflict or becoming a target of extremism. But even if that were the case, the agency needs to support vulnerable employees and visitors who are at risk of harassment or worse鈥攏ot cave to pressure from people who have politicized our existence. Continuing to allow uniformed Park Service staff at Pride is a simple way to signal that national parks should be, and hopefully are, safe places for queer people and staff.

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On October 17, a group of sixth graders arrived at Oregon鈥檚 Camp Tamarack, located near the town of Sisters, for a three-day stay at outdoor school, a state-funded staple for students. But just a few hours after they showed up,听the kids were ushered back onto their buses and taken home. The reason? Some of the camp counselors were nonbinary, and there was a misunderstanding among teachers and camp officials about sleeping arrangements.听

According , some students went to their teachers after learning about the presence of nonbinary counselors. 鈥淪leeping in cabins with and dressing in front of the counselors, was the source of discomfort,鈥� said Stefanie Garber, superintendent of central Oregon鈥檚 Culver School District, in an October 18 letter to parents explaining why she called off the outdoor school experience.听听

What was omitted from Garber鈥檚 letter was a fact about the camp鈥檚 rules: students have access to private changing rooms and do not need to change in front of counselors, nor do they shower at the outdoor camp. Camp Tamarack鈥檚 executive director, Charlie Anderson, has since clarified that the camp, which is part of an outdoor school science program available to all Oregon 5th and 6th graders, also follows Oregon Department of Education鈥檚 nondiscrimination policies, which requires camp counselors鈥� genders to remain confidential. In 2020, Oregon became in the U.S. to recognize nonbinary and gender-fluid students.

The students鈥� concerns filtered from teachers to their principal, and then on to Garber, who was not present at the outing and could not reach camp staff. She decided to remove all students from Camp Tamarack. Camp staff learned what was happening only as students were leaving. Anderson (who declined to speak to 国产吃瓜黑料) wrote a letter to the Tamarack community which was later shared on social media. In the letter, Anderson said that some students cried and chanted, 鈥淟et us stay.鈥�

Garber says her decision to pull the kids from the camp was not due to anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment, but rather because she wanted to maintain the trust of parents. Some children, and presumably their parents, she said, seemed to lack information about sleeping arrangements. Since outdoor school is not mandatory, parents can always opt out if they don鈥檛 like camp policies.听

鈥淪ome of these stories make it sound like we just fell off the turnip truck,鈥� Garber says. Garber acknowledged that the decision to remove the kids may have been interpreted as bigotry, but said that her decision was not discriminatory.听

鈥淚t was really this perfect storm of errors that couldn鈥檛 be fixed,鈥� Garber says. Culver School District students have been promised a spring camp opportunity, though it won鈥檛 be at Tamarack, since the facility is booked out for the year. After Culver pulled its students, decided to switch its Tamarack camps to day trips only.听

Still, the decision to pull the children sent ripples through Oregon. In a in the Bend Bulletin, former counselor Kevin Crawford wrote, 鈥淸Superintendent] Garber failed as an educator when she pulled those students from camp. She failed to recognize her student鈥檚 discomfort as an opportunity to do her job鈥攖o educate.鈥�听

Crawford spent seven seasons at Tamarack, and said that when he first heard about the students being sent home, he feared the experience could have been damaging for the counselors. 鈥淪uddenly, the students are being pulled out because of this adult discomfort over your identity, the very core of who you are,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 know camp has [the counselors鈥橾 backs 100 percent, but regardless, having the superintendent of a school district take out a class of sixth graders because of you? You would take that so personally. You鈥檇 be like 鈥極h, it was me, I鈥檓 the problem.鈥欌��

released in early November titled 鈥楥oming Together,鈥� Anderson and Garber wrote of their desire to 鈥渞espect the values and identities鈥� of those who participate in outdoor school.

鈥淲e view it as a missed opportunity for a meaningful discussion around issues of respect, inclusion, compassion, belonging, and, ultimately, mutual understanding,鈥� the statement said.听

The statement did little to tamp down a wave of online hatred directed at the school after the incident. Vitriolic comments toward trans and nonbinary people appeared on Camp Tamarack鈥檚 Facebook, prompting camp officials to shut the page down.听

鈥淚鈥檝e seen a lot of ignorance and a lot of bigotry in response to what happened, 鈥� says Maddie Reitz, a former Camp Tamarack staff member. 鈥淚t goes along with a wave of transphobia that has been so rampant, especially in the past year or two. Seeing that directed to a place that鈥檚 so close to my heart was just really devastating.鈥澨�

As outdoor schools work to become more welcoming and safer for vulnerable students, they face spillover from the nation-wide , often directed at youth.听

鈥�I think any program, school, or district that is vocally supporting any student from a marginalized identity and community is a political target right now,鈥� says Spirit Brooks, the interim director of Oregon鈥檚 , the Oregon State University-based program that oversees state-funded outdoor school programs like Camp Tamarack.听

More than 80 percent of Oregon students go to outdoor school, after a 2016 ballot initiative made the state one of the first to include fully-funded outdoor school in its public science curriculum. And while many camps, Tamarack included, have worked hard to become a welcoming place for all students, Brooks鈥� research has found that trans and nonbinary students听have less positive outdoor school experiences than their peers.

It isn鈥檛 easy to be a gender-nonconforming kid. According to a youth ages 13 to 17 are significantly more likely than adults to identity as transgender, and that number is increasing. Suicide rates are exceptionally high in transgender youth compared to the rest of the population, and that gender affirmation at school鈥攍ike allowing students to use the bathroom that suits them鈥攔educes that risk. At Camp Tamarack, trans and nonbinary students have the right to self-assign to the cabin that most aligns with their gender, and to use private restroom facilities. Some other outdoor camps have all-gender cabins. The inclusion and accessibility practices at Tamarack are consistent with nationwide guidelines from the .

The central Oregon LGBTQ+ community and Camp Tamarack alums have rallied around the camp. 鈥淚t has been so beautiful to see the amount of support and love directed towards Tamarack and their programming,鈥� says Reitz, whose outdoor education career began as a high school counselor. As a freshman, she fell in love with teaching kids about local ecology on the camp鈥檚 pine-covered lake shore, and was excited to learn leadership skills and help build an accepting community. Reitz (who uses she/they pronouns) worked at Tamarack for five years, and is now staff at a similar outdoor school in California.

Even as outdoor schools and districts continue to navigate a difficult national political environment for supporting gender-diverse youth, Brooks is confident that Outdoor School for All鈥檚 goals and values won鈥檛 change. 鈥�Even though there鈥檚 a vocal minority, we’re going to continue to support equitable, culturally responsive outdoor school programs for Oregon youth,鈥� she says. 鈥�When we have programs that have high school leaders听who identify as trans, nonbinary, or gender expansive, that’s a really positive thing.鈥�

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