“I know there were girls at camp that had feelings for other girls and counselors, but it was a time that if you had those feeling, you kept them to yourselves. It is not so socially taboo anymore, but back then, you kept your feelings in check,” admitted A.C., from the late sixties and early seventies, who met her good friend at camp. She recalled staying up ridiculous hours talking to her friend in an intense and intimate way, admitting she was attracted to her as a friend.

D.R. had a crush on one of the counselors in the early seventies. “There was not a lot of talk about gay issues and I was a tomboy, but not gay. I wasn’t athletic or into sports, but until my brother came along, my Dad had me cutting the lawn and doing the sfuff with the dogs, etc. But, I can remember all the counselors were at a campfire and my three cabin mates went on a tangent trying to make me mad, saying things about (my crush). I defended her and then I started to cry and the counselors had to yell at them. I still don’t know why I did that.”

“I did not want to go to a co-ed camp and I remember my days as a C.I.T. because my two best friends fell in love and the three of us lived on the screen porch at Dutton, “ said camper M.P. from the seventies. “I watched it happen and could not understand the whole idea of why didn’t they fall in love with me. One had always presented as straight and the other as gay. My first crush was a girl named D. at camp. I wanted to be with her. She was funny, athletic, and I just wanted to be at camp all summer. It was my first time feeling that attraction and I was 13 or 14. She was not my counselor and was in a different cabin. I just remember all these memories blending together.I knew I was different very early. I believed I was a boy until I was in the sixth grade. I lived in a neighborhood with twelve boys and our parents were all close. I was Mike.. My Mom allowed me to be myself, dressed in Levi jeans, Converse tennis shoes and tee shirts. In sixth grade I finally realized I was a girl. There was a list and all the names were called on the list to go to separate rooms. The teacher asked what my name was and when I said Mike, she said we don’t have a Mike. Are you M. and is your Mom ___? I was totally freaked out. She called my Mom. Here I stood in this room with a bunch of girls in dresses.”

One avenue of relevance that opened C.H.’s eyes in the early sixties was the gay counselor situation that involved many of the physical education major staff. “Today it is not so hush -hush, but this was before we talked about issues like this. One instance stands out in my mind. The camper’s name was T. and she was lovely– in a young mannered way and very muscular. Some of the counselors were “gaga” and would try to get her in their activities. Oh T., come here. No, T. come try this. (The director) chastised them and said this was not going to go on. It was so foreign to me, but I could see how inappropriate it was. It was my first introduction but I wasn’t appalled. I had just never experienced this before.”

“As a young kid I liked to try things and my folks wanted me to try new things, so I thought camp was great. I wanted to go.  I loved the riflery, canoeing, sailing, and horseback riding. I made new friends and I ended up going all summer every summer, except the summer I was twelve. For some reason, unbeknown to me at that time, my time at Maqua was interrupted. Mom pulled me out and made me go away to Camp Maplehurst. I asked her thirty years later why she did that because I did not want to go. She was such a non-judgemental person, but my Mom sensed that there were gay women at Maqua and so she sent me somewhere else. Ironically, at Camp Maplehurst one of the counselors had me massage her, which made me feel very uncomfortable, and when I told my Mom, then it was back to Maqua,” laughed D.O. from the early sixties.

Although these issues were not out in the open, many young women witnessed fights and jealousies behind the scene. Were you too young or were you aware of the drama behind the women who were attracted to each other?