How Little Rainbows is empowering and connecting children from LGBTQ+ families

From its grassroots beginnings to becoming a registered charity and peak organisation, Rainbow Families has spent nearly a decade connecting, supporting, and empowering LGBTQIA+ parents and their children. 

Now, with the digital launch of Little Rainbows —  a website with online resources supporting children under 12 —  Rainbow Families’ reach is set to get a whole lot wider. 

Little Rainbows began life as an educational resource project and collaboration between Western Sydney University’s Young and Resilient Research Centre and Rainbow Families’ Youth Advisory Council (YAC). 

The Youth Advisory Council, or ‘YAC’ as it’s more commonly known, was formed in 2017 by a group of 13-17-year-olds already part of the Rainbow Families community.

This supportive peer network has worked on projects and initiatives for the last seven years to educate and support the wider community. Through their regular meet-ups, the YAC members have built close friendships with each other and created a space where young people can share family experiences with others who “just get it”.

Lars Emery has been involved with YAC since it started and, in 2020, was part of the team working with Western Sydney University to create the Little Rainbows educational resource. 

Its purpose was to connect younger children with stories of families just like theirs, and part of the project involved coming up with a name with which they were all happy. “When we were working on the publication, our group leader suggested ‘Little Rainbows’. We loved it because we knew that we wanted to take the term ‘gayby baby’ to the next level.” Lars says. 

“After Little Rainbows was published, we wanted to keep supporting younger children from LGBTQIA+ families. So, in 2023, the YAC group talked about how we wanted to create something similar to what we [the older kids] had with YAC but for children under 12, and Little Rainbows seemed to be a perfect name for the younger children and this newly formed group. It keeps the story going.”

The Little Rainbows Youth Advisory Council officially launched in 2023 and has ten children signed up. Lars hopes they all stick around and get as much from being part of the Rainbow Families community as they have. 

“It would be nice to have the younger group of children involved for as long as I have been,” they say. “I first walked through the Rainbow Families door to go to a playgroup with my mums. I’m 17 now, and have been here ever since!” 

Alongside the publication and youth council, Little Rainbows has moved its resources online with Lars and many others in the community, contributing to content creation. 

Digital copies of the Little Rainbows publication are available on the site, along with a growing collection of videos, all capturing the unique experiences of children growing up in LGBTQ+ families.

Lars has been involved in shaping these videos, collaborating with others to ensure that the content is both meaningful and representative of the community’s diverse experiences. 

As the website grows with new resources, Lars hopes young people will see how getting involved with Rainbow Families and Little Rainbows can help them develop their friendships, have new experiences and introduce them to the power of advocacy work. 

“Rainbow Families is such a great support system and a place to help young people find community and acceptance,” they say. 

“It not only helped me understand that there are many different types of rainbow families, it also showed me that I’m not alone.”