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Founded 2012

QYLTS Action Camp


By GSA Networks of the Southeast


What is QYLTS Camp?



QYLTS (Queer Youth Leading the South) Action Camp is the only gathering of its kind in the region, an intense, interactive summer camp designed for queer and trans youth and allies living in the South. QYLTS Action Camp is hosted in partnership with organizers from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

The Southeastern Cohort of GSA Networks came together in 2012 to plan the first Southeastern LGBTQ Activist Camp. The camp was a collaboration to meet the needs of the five original sponsor states: Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. The founding members were all a part of the National Association of GSA Networks, a program of GSA Network which is based in California. Since that time the cohort has expanded in the region, including working with established and new organizations in Louisiana and Florida.

The current camp is led by a planning committee made up of representatives from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, New Orleans, and Tennessee.


Who is the Southeastern Cohort?


The Southeastern cohort has included: Center for Artistic Revolution, Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition, Alabama Safe Schools Coalition, Georgia Safe Schools Coalition, New Orleans GSA Network powered by BreakOUT!, Jacksonville Sexual Minority Youth Network, Project South, COLAGE, and organizers in Tennessee who are not officially with an organization.

With the new members there have also been updates to the curriculum which was originally largely based on the Activist Camp Curriculum provided by founding organizaiton GSA Network. The goal was to provide foundational materials which could be tailored, adapted and revamped to better fit the needs of the region. This relationship has led to Southeastern based organizers (mostly youth) updating materials that are now used nationally in the camps that have followed.


Past Camps