Denmark's Aeroe Rainbow Family Festival Welcomes a Kaleidoscope of Families

What should we do this summer? – This is a question many can appreciate. Add kids to the mix, and the questions get more complicated:

Where’s fun for all of us?

Can we be out? Will we have to prep the kids?

Should we holiday with the kids’ other parents, grandparents, and siblings?

What about racism, sexism, transphobia…?

Lorraine Hayles, lesbian, black, single mother of two, got tired of not being able to find good answers to these questions. So she set to work creating the summer experience she had been searching for for so long. 

The beautiful fairy tale island of Ærø, pronounced ‘arrow’ in English, claimed a place deep in Lorraine’s heart—she had finally found the place where she and her family could be out, accepted and safe, just like the other LGBTQ+ families that live on and visit the island.

The location set, the question was how to create a vacation that honors the various needs and interests of diverse families from all over the world, focusing on what’s really important: being together as a family, a community and having fun. 

August 19, 2018 is the birthday of Lorraine’s dream: Aeroe Rainbow Family Festival—a smorgasbord of activities and events, where participants can freely and easily create a holiday that suits them and their LGBTQ+ families.

The opening ceremony is a playday where grown-ups and kids can have fun together, and get to know a new family or two. The following days can be pieced together with water sports, knitting, hiking, soccer, a children’s service at the local church, enjoying a campfire or splashing in the water along one of the many lovely beaches. Families can combine alone time, family time and group activities, selecting among child-focused fun and grown-up workshops, or time at the local cafes and bars to just hang out.

See more on their website or follow them on Facebook.

For more information on the amazing island of Aarhus, check out our coverage on Out.com.