Rabbi Daniel Bogard

Daniel Bogard is a rabbi, a longtime advocate for the queer community, and one of the co-founders of Camp Indigo Point, a summer sleepaway camp for LGBTQ youth. Bogard was raised in the Central Reform Congregation in St. Louis, Missouri, where he was exposed to the LGBTQ community from an early age. He remembers having openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual Hebrew school teachers as a child in the 1980s. Both his career path and his trajectory as an activist were set young: he wanted to be a rabbi from the time he was in elementary school, and became involved in the fight for same-sex marriage in high school.

Bogard completed Rabbinical School at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem, Israel, where he met his wife, Rabbi Karen Kriger Bogard. The two then took a position as co-rabbis at Congregation Anshai Emeth in Peoria, Illinois. In Peoria, Bogard befriended both the local imam and the pastor of an Evangelical megachurch, who befriended each other as well when Bogard introduced them. In response to the climate of Islamophobia surrounding Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, Bogard and his colleagues initiated the Peace for Peoria Movement, hosting Meet Your Muslim Neighbor events to foster interfaith familiarity. The three were the subject of the documentary “No Joke,” which gave rise to 3Practices, an organization which promotes dialogue across cultural divides.

Bogard’s next position, again shared with his wife, was with Adath Israel, a Conservative congregation in Cincinnati, Ohio, after which he worked briefly as the rabbi in residence for the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio. As rabbi in residence, Bogard spoke in churches and produced a podcast, serving as a queer-affirming face for Episcopalians uncertain of the queer-friendly turn Episcopal leadership was taking. Bogard describes his continued commitment to interfaith efforts as stemming from his curiosity about other people and his desire to help others understand the Jewish community, which looms large in the Christian and Muslim cultural imagination despite limited direct contact.

In 2018, Bogard returned, with his wife, to Central Reform Congregation, where the two have since worked as rabbis. In Missouri, Bogard became a frequent presence in the state legislature in Jefferson City, advocating for trans children. During his participation in the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Created Equal Educators Fellowship, he was struck by an account of a 19th century Jewish trans man in A Rainbow Thread: An Anthology of Queer Jewish Texts from the First Century to 1969. The text’s affirmation that trans children, including his own son, had ancestors was powerful to Bogard, who has shared this message by giving hundreds of copies of the book to legislators, congregants, and queer youth alike.

In 2021, Bogard was contacted by a friend, Dan Grable, who owned a campsite and proposed hosting a weekend for trans youth. Bogard’s own childhood experiences of togetherness at Jewish summer camp made him realize the immense value such an experience would have for trans children and he suggested offering a full week camp. Together with his childhood camp friend Shira Berkowitz, Bogard set about making Camp Indigo Point a reality. They were overwhelmed by the response they received that first year, driving out to the campsite to ensure there were sufficient beds for the number of interested campers.

Bogard’s role at Camp Indigo Point has always been behind the scenes, as it is a core principle of the camp to provide campers with queer camp-facing staff who can offer a sense of queer community and legacy. He instead serves as a public face with donors and as a manager of the camp’s relationship with large donors, ensuring Camp Indigo Point remains affordable for children who need it. Bogard describes the founding of Camp Indigo Point as probably his most important accomplishment.

(This biographical statement was written by Lynn Kusmin from an interview with Daniel Bogard and was edited by Bogard.)

Biography Date: June 2026

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