Day camp for transgender and 'gender fluid' kids to accept four-year-olds

The camp is one of the only ones in the world which caters for transgender and gender fluid children as young as four. Photo / AP

A San Francisco day camp for transgender and gender fluid children as young as four is spearheading education a and awareness of gender expansion.

Rainbow Day Camp in El Cerrito, California, accepts children between the ages of four and 12.

At check-in every day, children choose which pronouns they wish to be referred to with for the day or they can choose to be considered neither male nor female.

Since opening three years ago, it has swelled in popularity and now looks after 60 children a day. The camp has received interest from several other states and has been contacted by parents overseas including a family in Africa.

It was created by founder Sandra Collins whose daughter Scarlett, now nine, revealed she was transgender when she was just two years old.

The camp ran for three weeks this year between June 26 and July 14. The children arrived every day at 9am and played together until 3pm at an independent school that was rented for the occasion.

Activities were the same as those found at other children's camps around the country and included reading, outdoor games, face-painting, lanyard and kite-making and story writing.

Gracie, six, was born a boy but identified as female as soon as she could talk. She is pictured with her mother Molly Maxwell. Photo / AP

At Rainbow Day Camp however, a focus was placed on helping the children grow comfortable with their gender identity.

There were no gender specific bathrooms, with all of the children - including 15 percent who were cisgender (meaning they identify with the gender they were born in) - using the same facilities.

"In order to teach about gender inclusion and equity, we made all bathrooms all gender bathrooms. The school has one single all gender bathroom as well," founder Sandra Collins told DailyMail.com on Monday.

Gracie plays with another child called Nugget. Nugget selected the pronouns 'they' and'them' for July 11, choosing not to be referred to as either male or female. Photo / AP

While most of the children who attended identified as gender fluid or trans, cisgender children are just as welcome, she said.

"From the beginning we wanted the camp to have cisgender campers- especially siblings or friends - to attend. They must be supportive allies however.

"Most of the camp is gender diverse, around 85%," Collins added.

On one particular day, staff focused on the "gender affirmative" approach which helps children go from living as the gender they were biologically born with to the one they identify with until they are old enough to decide on physically transitioning.

It is one of the only camps in the world which caters to preschool age children who have come out as transgender.

Experts expect more to be created in the near future as more children continue to reveal themselves to be transgender at a young age.

Among the children who attended this year's camp in San Francisco was six-year-old Gracie Maxwell who was born male.

Her mother said she had identified as a girl for as long as she could talk.

"Once she could talk, I don't remember a time when she didn't say, 'I'm a girl'. Then it grew in intensity: 'I'm a sister. I'm a daughter. I'm a princess.'

"We would argue with her. She was confused. We were confused," Molly Maxwell said.

Another mother said it was the first time their child felt "just like a normal kid".

Scarlett, the camp's founder's daughter, said she felt as though she could be herself in a safe environment. "I feel comfortable for being who I am and who I want to be," she said.

Founder Sandra Collins reads a book to the group which encouraged them to 'be who you are'. Sandra founded the camp three years ago. Photo / AP

Scarlett's mother Sandra said the camp offered many of the children their first opportunity to become comfortable with their gender identity.

"A lot of these kids have been bullied and had trauma at school. This is a world where none of that exists, and they're in the majority.

"That's a new experience for kids who are used to hiding and feeling small."

Camp director Andrew Kramer, who came out as a transgender male four years ago, echoed her comments.

"I want to show these kids what a confident, happy, successful trans person looks like. We teach them they are normal, deserving of love, and not alone," he said.

Collins said she was looking in to opening a winter camp and spring pop-up camps and is also eager to expand geographically.