The red, orange, yellow, green, purple and blue beads were the most popular.

Picking through containers of craft goodies and hemp rope the gaggle of youth sat on the deck busy making bracelets, anklets and necklaces.

There was a buzz of excitement in the air among the cottages that played host to the four-day summer camp on Gambier Island.

The 44 campers were a part of a landmark gathering. But greater still was the feeling of freedom.

“They didn’t have to explain their gender orientation,” Camp fYrefly youth leader Rebecca Ronaghan said, regarding everyday stresses.

The retreat, which took place last week, was B.C.’s first summer camp for gay, lesbian, trans-identified, intersexed, questioning and bisexual youth.

Founded by University of Alberta educators Andre Grace and Kristopher Wells, this summer Saskatchewan and Newfoundland are also booked to host their inaugural fYrefly camps. Five years since its creation more than 175 youth, ages 14 to 24, have attended the retreats.

The washrooms at the camp were non-gender specific and youth dressed as they pleased.

It was empowering and encouraging to see some of the younger campers being openly out, Ronaghan noted.

When she was 14 years old, the former Windsor secondary student wasn’t aware of any openly homosexual students.

“A lot of them have this confidence,” she said of the campers.

Ronaghan let people know about her attraction to women in Grade 11.

Although her close friends accepted the news immediately, Ronaghan didn’t feel totally comfortable with her sexuality until a year and half later.

Recently she jumped another hurdle.

“The current relationship I am in now, I found I could hold her hand and not care who was looking.”

* * * * *

There’s a thin film that covers life away from Camp fYrefly. An invisible self-monitor double checks the clothes you wear, your actions in public and what you say.

“It is funny what happens when you take away all the little stresses and anxieties that you don’t even know go through your head,” camp youth leader Emily Thomas explained.

Although the former Carson Graham secondary school student was supported by her friends and family when she came out, Thomas said she never felt as accepted and supported as she did among the group on Gambier.

There were no support groups for gay, lesbian or bisexual youth when Thomas was in high school a year ago.

She remembers two distinct moments when she heard about gay, lesbian or bisexual orientations — one in a planning class and another was an anti-homophobia campaign a couple of students promoted for a class project.

“I remember seeing a poster in the hallway of a same-sex couple holding hands with a little rainbow colour heart between them,” Thomas said.

Although not at the stage where she felt comfortable participating in such events, the picture helped her realize she was not alone.

“Knowing a resource exists for you makes a huge difference,” Thomas said.

Building on those resources and support networks is what the North Shore may need to buck a rising trend of discrimination based on sexual orientation, said Annie Smith, McCreary Centre Society managing director.

Between 2003 and 2008, students who reported such prejudice bumped from three per cent to five per cent, according to a 2008 study completed by the non-profit youth research centre.

Lesbian, gay and bi-sexual youth are also more likely to attempt suicide than heterosexual youth at 28 per cent verse four per cent, Smith said.

“I think it sort of shows us that the work is not yet done,” she said. “People say things are getting more tolerant and that is definitely the perception that you get, but clearly it is not always young people’s experience.”

One reason for the rise of discrimination could be more youth are identifying as sexual minorities, said Liz Cave, the departing coordinator for West Vancouver’s Whatever youth drop-in program.

In 2004, when Cave graduated from West Vancouver secondary school, there were two members in the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance.

Today there are 15.

“That sort of gives you an idea that more people are out and there is more awareness in the school of harassment, so there is also more talk about harassment,” she said.

* * * * *

Although much progression has been made for people of all sexual orientation, it’s not an area for complacency, Vancouver East MP Libby Davies said.

July 20 marks Canada’s fifth anniversary for same-sex marriage, a move that in 2005 made the nation the fourth in the world to legalize such unions.

But a month before this year’s birthday, Alberta passed legislation giving parents the option of pulling their children out of lessons on sex, religion or sexual orientation, a move some activists say will lead to discrimination.

Meanwhile in Toronto, the Conservative government stripped Tourism Minister Diane Ablonczy of responsibility of a major tourism funding program after she signed a $400,000 grant to Toronto’s Pride week.

“I think most Canadians believe very passionately that we live in an open democratic society where you know differences are appreciated and seen as a good thing, where diversity is seen as something very positive,” Davies said. “And then you come across these examples of where this kind of narrow, bigoted agenda arises and becomes a battle.”

Davies announced her partnership with a woman during a debate on same-sex marriage in 2001. She was trying to make a point about the right to marry or not, as before partnering with rabble.ca publisher Kimberly Elliott, she was in a common law relationship with Vancouver city councillor Bruce Eriksen, who died of cancer in 1997.

“It was a big deal personally, because once I was out I thought, ‘Okay I am in a relationship with this woman I love. I don’t know if it is going to last. I hope it does but what happens after that? Am I a lesbian? I don’t know.’” Davies said. “All that stuff goes through your mind.”

* * * * *

Stepping out is a personal journey. It’s different for everybody, Davies said.

But having attended Camp fYrefly, Davies saw an openness among the young campers that blew her away. Whether it is a derivative from education programs, upheld legislation, the ambiguity and social outlets created by the Internet or a combination of all, she couldn’t say.

But Davies, along with the campers, felt it.

“I think particularly for youth there has been a huge movement of growth and strength as young people come out,” she said. “I think for many young people sexual identity is not a big issue now.”

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