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2 R SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2019 | | The Mix E9 extended the right tomarry to same-sex couples, and shortly after Proposition 8 barred same-sex marriages in California. With tensions high and queer communities facing backlash, Rylander saw an opportunity to help queer youth get away from this national attention, connect with nature, and find community. She envisionedOTA activities as spaces where queer youth could heal and grow away from those with privileged identities and op- pressive environments. “There’s just a level of being able to breathe a sigh of relief, and I don’t have to explain to you or to every- one herewho I am in these really fundamental ways, because they just get it. Those spaces are so criti- cal for folks that are in theminori- ty,” Rylander said. “To have the space to heal and to figure out how they’re going to continue to trudge through the day, because some- times it really is just about trudging and keeping one foot in front of the other.” Being outside doesn’t always guarantee that queer youth are immersing themselves in safe spaces —Rylander saidOTA partic- ipants frequently have to deal with derogatory slurs, or other campers gettingmy period. This wasn’t supposed to be happening.’ And then all of the gender dysphoria that that creates for them,” Ryland- er said. “I try to utilize those oppor- tunities frommy own experience to normalize it and try to talk about howwe can process through things together. I think that if we did a better jobwith having that cultural conversation, thenmore people would feel empowered to also go out there.” McCrae said that feelingwel- come and safe in an environment can be about language too. “There’s a lot of binary vocabu- lary that happens in the outdoors. It’s not necessarily that people are discriminating against queer people or trans people, but the language is centered towards cispeople, cis- females or cismales, and I don’t really fit into either category. So I would prefer to hear language that’s more accessible tome and things that feel more affirming to me. And Elyse has got that down,” he said. Rylander began laying the foun- dations for OTA in 2010, when LGBTQ+ rights were a national topic. It was a few years before the Defense of Marriage Act was struck down, before Obergefell v. Hodges ous LGBTQ+youth likeMcCrae build leadership skills, find queer community, and begin on a path toward a career in the outdoors. McCrae, whowas 17 at the time of that first OTA kayaking trip, had just started testosterone treatments the week before the outing andwas nervous about having to administer a shot by himself for the first time. But having the other members of OUT There Adventures cheering himon boosted his confidence and made him feel comfortable and affirmed in his body for the first time. “I had never really experienced queer community before,” he said. “Whenwe went out and did [the trip] it was the first time I felt OK in my body and really affirmed [by] people aroundme too.” Althoughmany consider the outdoors a place to get away from the stresses of daily life, encounters with homophobia at campgrounds or in public restrooms in the out- doors canmake LGBTQ+adven- turers feel unwelcome or unsafe. Affinity groups like OTA give queer youth a space to feel safe and < OTA FROM E1 OU T T H E R E A D V E N T U R E S Participants with the LGBTQ Teen Conservation Crew, a group organized through a partnership between OTA and Northwest Youth Corps, get ready to launch from Orcas Island. OUTDOORS McCrae, this maymean having to administer a shot by themselves for the first time, or the stresses of the outdoors might trigger disorienting physical effects. “We have a trans kid that’s freak- ing out because they’re like ‘I’m centered, because “we don’t have the same needs as cisgender white males,” McCrae said. OTA frequently works with trans youth, many of whommay just be starting or have recently completed a hormone regimen. For some, like B ROD S A L O / NOR T HWE S T Y OU T H C OR P S L G B T Q T E E N C ON S E R V A T I ON C R EW Elyse Rylander, founder of OUT There Adventures (OTA), on Sucia Is- land, Central Salish Sea. Ca 1 th 8 ed 8 ra 8 l Provi 2 nc 5 ia 5 l Par 4 k - B 4 5 C C 3 anada Hiking • Fishing • Wildlife Viewing OPEN FATHER’S DAY Based on double occupancy) - - - info@CathedralLakes.ca | www.CathedralLakes.ca EVEN-HANDED FAIR IN-DEPTH AU SMART PERSUASIVE INFORMED INFORMED INQUISITIVE CONTRARIAN CONTRAIRE Hehas anopinion. Do you? DannyWestneat In The Seattle Times and online at seattletimes.com Rooms start at $653 cnd (3 nights per person, all-inclusive In meals, 4/4 shuttle and tax. online