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Girls Rock campers at Jannus Live in St. Petersburg, Florida on July 19, 2025. Credit: Alexis Thompson \/ Girls Rock St. Pete<\/p>\nGirls Rock campers at Jannus Live in St. Petersburg, Florida on July 19, 2025. Credit: Alexis Thompson \/ Girls Rock St. Pete<\/p>\n
In a better world, places like Girls Rock Camp St. Pete<\/a> wouldn\u2019t exist.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPut me out of business,\u201d Jesse Miller, executive director of the nonprofit founded a decade ago, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. \u201cMake it so girls, women and gender-expansive folks don\u2019t need these kinds of spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n But they do.<\/p>\n From January 2020-December 2024, the FBI recorded 1,883 anti-transgender hate crime offenses (1,660 incidents) nationwide, according to the agency\u2019s Crime Data Explorer. Data from the CDE also shows a 61% increase in offenses in the same time span. Looking at reports from GLAAD<\/a> and more data for hate crimes against women or BIPOC folks is just as devastating.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we\u2019re trying to teach these kids that their voices matter, and their bodies are important, and their bodies are their own, look at what\u2019s happening with the leaders of our nation telling them exactly the opposite thing,\u201d Miller added. \u201cSo we have to fight harder for these spaces all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n Today (Monday), Miller\u2014together with GRC founder Rachael Sibilia, and program manager River Oakley\u2014welcomed a few dozen campers to \u201cPower Week.\u201d Over the next five days, they\u2019ll learn instruments and form bands that will take the stage at Jannus Live<\/a> this weekend.<\/p>\n They also learned about trailblazers of rock and roll like Bikini Kill and its founder Kathleen Hanna, who had beer spit in her face and chains thrown at her<\/a> as she broke down barriers in punk-rock\u2014a story sadly understood by thousands of women whether they dared to bring feminist values to the stage, workplace, home, or to the world in general. Hanna\u2019s efforts have helped open the door for a legion of rock acts not fronted by men.<\/p>\n GRC has a small army behind it, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n Organizers told CL that more than 100 people volunteer as roadies, music coaches, Therapunks, workshop hosts and more so that camp happens. There\u2019s even a \u201cdude crew\u201d providing support behind the scenes along with campus and concert prep. Last year, more than 1,000 people showed up to the showcase concert where the new bands performed. Organizers would love to see the 2,000-capacity venue sold-out this time around, to not only give the finger to leaders who\u2019ve sought to turn the clock back on trans rights, but push back on the World Economic Forum\u2019s 2023 finding that it could take 131 years to close the gender gap<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIn St. Pete, we don\u2019t have to abide by that. We can start the work now. Just by showing up to this concert, it\u2019s showing these girls and these kids that that get up on that stage that the community is here to support them,\u201d Miller said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sibilia added that anyone walking through the gates is taking an active part in a revolution, noting that the three hours spent at the concert galvanizes a community for the months between. Supporting the cause, she said, takes courage\u2014the very thing campers aged 8-17 bring to the table.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bravest thing they\u2019re doing is walking through on Monday morning and being vulnerable, stepping out of their comfort zones,\u201d Sibilia explained.<\/p>\n Together, they start to chip away at the gender confidence collapse<\/a>. At GRC, it\u2019s safe to raise your hand. Campers don\u2019t have to be people pleasers, and they are encouraged to mess up. \u201cOnce they learn that the mistakes is what makes you good at something. Then it\u2019s like, \u2018OK, game on, sky\u2019s the limit,\u2019\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n Asking campers to examine barriers that need to be overcome internally and outside of camp equips a generation with tools that could leave the people who come behind them with fewer barriers to break through. Despite a political climate that seems impossible, giving up and complacency don\u2019t have to be options for a dissenting community.<\/p>\n \u201cBy these radical acts of love, and creativity, music\u2014all of the things\u2014we can really build community and not be bogged down by the weight of oppressive people and oppressive systems,\u201d Sibilia added.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s not just the campers that grow.<\/p>\n Miller herself is subject to bouts of imposter syndrome, but camp has reminded her that you can\u2019t be onstage teaching confidence, empowerment and self-love without walking the walk yourself.<\/p>\n She has seen giant men in the crowd crying at the concert. Some of them, she thinks, are dads who see their kids radically-supported by strong mentors and other people who believe in them. Parents, especially the fathers and brothers, are taught to give up the stage and play a supportive role.<\/p>\n Many folks send their kids to GRC because of transformative effects the program has demonstrated over the last decade. There are some parents who don\u2019t fully grasp the idea of gender inclusivity, but they are safe, too. Humans are always evolving, Sibilia noted, and being inclusive means helping everyone break down walls and get comfortable. It\u2019s OK to ask questions, to try to get better.<\/p>\n \u201cAs long as you are working to be more inclusive and more open, then you are welcome here,\u201d Sibilia added. \u201cI think that parents that perhaps are more conservative, or perhaps have had one sort of narrow way of thinking, they see that we create safety. We are not turning people away because they don\u2019t know everything about everything. It makes them feel safe too.\u201d<\/p>\n Support, and that kind of joyful uprising, organizers noted, is what it\u2019s all about. And a strong showing on Saturday would go a long way to show campers that St. Pete is a haven in a state that can feel deeply bigoted at times. In fact, to not show up, or give in to those working to quash gender inclusivity, is not an option at all.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of these kids, they look forward to this camp every single year because it\u2019s this space where they\u2019re not bullied, where they can be themselves, and that\u2019s sacred,\u201d Miller said. \u201cIf you build that trust with these youth, and then outwardly you\u2019re not sticking up for that, what is that teaching them? It\u2019s completely opposed to the whole reason we started.\u201d<\/p>\n Tickets to the 2026 Girls Rock St. Pete concert happening Saturday, July 18 at Jannus Live in St. Petersburg are still available for $10-$20 (it\u2019s $25 at the door)<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0BlueSky<\/a><\/p>\n This article appears in July 09 \u2013 15, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \t\t\t![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Girls-Rock-Camp-2025.jpg\")
Girls Rock Camp St. Pete on July 18, 2025. Credit: Sandra D\u00f6hnert \/ Girls Rock St. Pete<\/p>\n