The festival will provide a space for LGBTQ+ families to be themselves while holidaying in beautiful, peaceful surroundings; meeting other families that mirror our own; and celebrating LGBTQ+ families in all their diverse and intersectional glory.
Aeroe is a small island in southern Denmark that has a strong maritime history. This historical internationalism has made Aeroe’s inhabitants look to the world beyond the island’s narrow borders and has created a pearl of tolerance, acceptance and openness that each year welcomes international visitors and LGBTQ+ couples and families.
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Photo: Ellen Vallentin Christiansen
Visit the festival boxoffice to purchase.
A family holiday requires time, and because of that the festival program leaves room to do exactly what your rainbow family desires at a tempo that suits you, be it kayaking in the ocean, a bicycling by the sea, strolling through historical towns or simply throwing stones into the surf.
We gather to feel the strength in our international LGBTQ+ community, to be mirrored and to make friends. That’s why the festival will include activities where LGBTQ+ families, or their members individually, can have fun with others and make new friends. You might choose an all-ages party with games from times of old; a family football match; a fishing trip, morning runs, learning to knit or any number of other activities that are fun and can break the ice when meeting new people.
But there will also be room for more informal meet-ups, with ‘hygge-spots’ for various age groups, where children can play and parents can relax, get a cup of tea, practice the Danish art of hygge and chat with new friends and each other.
Let’s be entertained, challenged and strengthened. The cultural program will include talks, the arts and participatory events. This opening year’s focus will be on Danish culture. The program will aim to include events that highlight various views about and from within LGBTQ+ lives as well as intersectional aspects reflecting other diversities in our LGBTQ+ communities.
English will be the primary language during the festival, with an awareness of most participants speaking English as a second language and children not having extensive English skills.
Aeroe Rainbow Family Festival is for all LGBTQ+ families. That is, for families in which children, parents or grandparents identify as LGBTQ+: all sexual minorities and gender minorities, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, transsexual, queer, intersex, etc. All religions, races, ethnicities and abilities are more than welcome, as our intersectional realities play a big role in the lives of our children: having, for example, a black lesbian mother, is an important part of a child’s reality.
Families may be out or live their lives passing. Families may be old with teenage children who may want to share experiences with like-minded peers. Families may be new to the community, with a person who may just have come out, or may be grown-ups who may just have decided to have children together and take part with hopes that babies are on the way.
Participants do not need to identify as LGBTQ+ to participate. Allies are welcome. Also non LGBTQ+ persons who are members of a rainbow family, for example cisgender heterosexual grandparents, may choose to bring their grandchildren, leaving LGBTQ+ parents at home
