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The symbolic rainbow flags in the city signal preparations for the Swedish capital’s annual queer festival, which runs from July 26 to August 1. Targeted toward all members of the LGBT community (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender), the event has risen in prominence in Stockholm’s summer calendar since the first festival was held in 1998.
Pride strives to make its presence and philosophy — party, love and politics — known all over the city. There’s an extensive program of homo-themed workshops and seminars under one roof at Pride House, located at Stockholm’s Kulturhuset.
The Pride Parade takes its lead from the marches that kick-started the gay right’s movement in America in the late 1960s. On July 31 around 500,000 people are expected to line Stockholm’s streets to watch the procession.
And a makeshift green space on the island of Djurgården is home to Pride Park, which stages concerts and a party atmosphere for festival-goers.
Keeping it in the rainbow family
Amid the build-up, it is here in the park that a dressing-up box is being positioned to entertain a somewhat younger crowd this year. "Children love dressing up," says Helena Ljung Kaukonen, project leader for Pride Kids. "They can play and cross-dress if they want to," she adds.
A pre-school teacher by day, she is leading this new initiative, focusing on activities for kids aged three to seven and their gay parents — a modern family unit that is often referred to as a 'rainbow family'.
"We’re creating a platform for children and their moms and dads to hang out," she says. "Parents can come to Pride without leaving their kids behind."
Ljung Kaukonen believes the project goes hand in hand with the event’s theme for this year — power. "Children need to be seen and be heard," she says. "Everyone is welcome to Pride — it’s about giving power to the kids to be there too."
The program isn’t limited to queer activities alone. Pride Kids is cooperating with a number of Stockholm museums, which are opening their doors to free family tours for those attending the festival.
A child-friendly train will chug its way from the park into the city. It stations at Pride House where drama workshops, circus schools and storytelling sessions have been organized.
Once upon a time there were two dads…
Children's author Anette Skåhlberg will be reading from a selection of her work and is launching Jösta and Johan, the latest book in her collection.
It tells the tale of two male giraffes, in love and ready to start their own family. "But it’s not that easy," Skåhlberg says. "They find a nasty little crocodile that bites them and a lion that gets really angry. They almost give up until they find an egg that they take home and keep in a nest."
Along with the artistic talents of illustrator Katarina Dahlquist, the pair share a vision to make fairytales more modern and set up a publishing company in 2008. Skåhlberg raised her family in a heterosexual household but wanted to expose her children to characters that don’t always fit the norm.
"My daughter used to love princess books," Skåhlberg says. "They were always being saved by a prince on a white horse and the more I read, the angrier I got."
She therefore took it upon herself to pen her first queer fable — the story of Princess Kristalla who escapes from a castle and her suitor to be with her true love, a girl named Vilda.
"It’s so important to reach children with human values and to be open at a young age," Skåhlberg says.
Her message also coincides with a nationwide education project, 'Children in Rainbow Families', which is being launched this autumn by The Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights (RFSL).
The project is targeted toward pre-school teachers to help them introduce the concept of two-mom or two-dad families to youngsters through games, books and play.
"There has been a lot of support for our books but we have been criticized too," Skåhlberg adds. "But rather than manipulation I think of it as celebrating differences."
For Anette, Pride was a natural launch pad for the story of Jösta and Johan. "It’s a festival which can be very adult-oriented," she says. "But nowadays it’s important to include the family aspect too."
Parental pride without prejudice
Caroline Thorén, a busy mom of two-year-old twin girls, agrees. "Pride has to include all parts of homosexual life. As a family we are a minority but we do exist."
Caroline and her partner Therese Eriksson have been a couple for ten years. They are engaged and the proud parents of Anna-Lisa and Iris.
"I always thought I would have children," Thorén says. "As a woman I knew if I was fit and healthy then I would be able to fix it. It’s not something I really questioned."
Caroline and Therese began the process of insemination using an anonymous sperm donor in 2006 at a clinic in northern Sweden. By then a year had passed since Sweden introduced new legislation allowing lesbian couples to receive such treatment in public hospitals.
"We’ve never met anyone who has indicated that we shouldn’t have our children," she adds. "Although we haven’t encountered discrimination, I don’t think all the prejudice has gone away. It’s just not politically correct to talk about those sentiments in Sweden now."
Young, gay and pregnant today
Attitudes are also changing within Sweden’s gay community when it comes to rainbow families, and the possibilities of conceiving their own.
"It's a phenomenon that today’s young HBT crowd feels it is a part of their life," says Ulrika Westerlund, chair of RFSL.
Indeed, since the campaign to be a wife or husband was realized when Sweden legalized same-sex marriage in May 2009, questions of equality have moved to parenting and family law.
"There’s a big difference when you compare with people who are in their fifties — it was never on their agenda," Westerlund adds. "It’s much more common now to consider having a family."
Caroline Thorén says she has the same hopes and fears for her children as any other parent. "Most kids go through something that makes them different," she says. "But I don’t see it as being a problem for our daughters that they have two moms."
"Maybe I am being naive but I’ve seen how fast Sweden has developed when it comes to openness around sexuality," she adds.
Having experienced a huge shift in attitudes towards homosexuals since she came out at the age of 17, Thorén believes the first Stockholm Pride in 1998 was a turning point for change. Now in its thirteenth year, the festival is growing up.
And by the time it reaches adulthood, Thorén hopes that the colors of the rainbow family in Sweden will be more prominent, perhaps with her own family standing out less.