“A Message of Welcome to Rainbow Families.”
I’m Aoife, a facilitator of Rainbow Families, a social group at Outhouse LGBTQ+ Centre. My own background is that my wife and I have a great teenager. I obtained a retrospective declaration of parentage back in 2020, when our child was eleven. I hope that someday all families will have the same legal recognition.
When my wife and I were first trying to find ways to have a child, we felt isolated by our lack of contact with other LGBTQ+ families in Ireland. Information was not freely available in those days and any clinics that would treat LGBTQ+ people were very wary of negative publicity. We would have loved to find other people who could understand our situation.
In the present day, when Outhouse advertised for Rainbow Families facilitators, I knew I wanted to be involved. It’s important for a group like ours to exist, to offer the support and friendship of other families. I’ve really enjoyed meeting everyone.
Rainbow Families is one of Outhouse’s social groups and operates on a drop-in basis in the Café. People are free to walk in for a chat without any need to sign up. We describe the group as being “a space for LGBTQ+ parents, families, and parents-to-be.” All kinds of families attend and are welcome: single parents, grandparents, couples, people hoping to start a family sometime in the future. Many parents bring their children (of all ages) along, but it also isn’t unusual for a parent or prospective parent to attend by themselves for a chat. There are board games and books available in the Café to entertain children.
If you’re thinking about attending Rainbow Families but worry that you won’t “fit in”, please come along. There is no typical attendee and we are all different. Pride is all about celebrating diversity and if Rainbow Families is of interest to you for any reason, you are welcome. Some of our best meet ups have happened when people with completely different life experiences met each other. We’ve often heard international perspectives on LGBTQ+ families and family rights.
Whether you are hoping to meet other LGBTQ+ families or just want to ask for information, we would love to see you at Rainbow Families. Rainbow Families is currently meeting once a month on the third Saturday of the month from 12 noon to 2pm, usually in the Outhouse Café. Occasionally we will be upstairs in the Outhouse Library if we are having a special Storytime event, reading books aloud to families.
Hope to see you there!