Chicago City Wire

A Pritzker family foundation is funding Harbor Camps, "an overnight summer camp program" for children ages 8 through 18 who are cross-dressing, or claim to be considering sex change surgery.

A report on Breitbart.com outlined the connection between Harbor Camps and the Tawani Foundation, founded by cross-dressing billionaire philanthropist James "Jennifer" Pritzker, cousin of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and one of eleven billionaire heirs to the Pritzker family fortune.

New Hampshire-based Harbor Camps are "all transgender, non-binary, or similarly-identified" and seek to "challenge the image of the outdoors and camp as spaces primarily for white people," according to a mission statement on the company's web site.

"We strive to uphold anti-racist values, and we condemn acts of interpersonal, institutional, and systemic racism. At the same time, we acknowledge that we have been part of a larger system that shows preference toward white experiences and has not paid enough attention to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) experiences," it says. "We must continuously work to make sure that our campers and staff understand what racism is and how we address it at our camp. Outside of camp, our BIPOC campers have the added stresses of racism on top of being trans/non-binary."

Camp counselors, who Harbor Camps acknowledges are "mostly white," say they are "systemically racist" but are studying how not to be.

"Each year we devote a section of our pre-camp staff orientation to microaggression training," according to Harbor Camps. "Our counselors report that it is helpful to practice interventions at camp, with co-counselors, holding each other accountable, in the actual environment in which these situations will inevitably arise."

"We have been working with a DEI ("Diversity, Equity and Inclusion") consultant group owned and operated by BIPOC people in camping; they will be continue our many years of pre-camp trainings for our entire staff on issues of race and equity," it says.

The report cited links on the Tawani web site describing its grants, including one in 2021 to Harbor Camps for $25,000.

Harbor Camps reports it raises money to pay fees for campers.

"Thanks to the generosity of donors, we are able to provide an unlimited amount of financial aid and scholarships for any camper in need; we never turn away a family for inability to pay. We have done this since our inaugural year," it says.

The camp director is Umut Durson, a former high school teacher who says he was born female but now "identifies as a man."

In an interview, Durson said he was raised as a girl but "had a strict upbringing as his father was of Turkish and Muslim descent." He joined the Marine Corps as female at age 18 and played saxophone in its band, stationed at Camp Lejeune before "transgender issues led to his leaving the military."

The Pritzker family is the leading funder of a political effort to use "gender ideology to remake human biology," promoting the idea that biological sex doesn't exist and that children should be allowed to have sex change surgery. Its campaign extends to hospitals and medical schools-- including Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago-- and to K-12 elementary schools, including in Mundelein, Naperville and Clarendon Hills.