Pink Iceland is founded by lesbian couple and co-owned by a gay man. Full time staff consists of a total of 12, mostly queer people and we try to direct business to and hire people from within out community.
We use different words to describe the community we belong to. Gay, Lesbian, Queer, LGBT, LGBTQI, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, etc. We use all of these terms to ensure we're easily found through online searches as different people search for different terms. The umbrella term in Iceland is 'hinsegin' a word that used to be derogatory but like in many other cultures a word that has been reclaimed and embraced by most of our community. At Pink Iceland we personally prefer to use 'queer' and 'hinsegin' as they feel the most inclusive but for practical reasons we try to use as many terms as possible across our platforms to ensure a broader reach.
We have a very strict policy of only using photographs from real tours and weddings, with real people who took part in said tours or weddings. A large part of our clientele consists of gay men, who, it must be said we owe much of our success to, love you boos!
This is a reflection of the world we live in. It showcases which part of our community has it best in terms of privilege, and quite frankly, disposable income. This reality is reflected in imagery we post and share. Our hope is that by consistently working towards inclusivity and diversity in our services we will see this change and that we will be able to reach a more diverse demographic, i.e. people of colour, queer women and trans and non-binary people, to all of our benefit.
We know we're expensive and that its hard to believe that we subsidise our queer tours, some wedding and all our events but the fact is, we do. We do not do this begrudgingly but with pride that we are in a position to do so. If you can not afford our services please let us know, we want to be as inclusive as possible and not price members of our own community out of our services.
We, owners and staff at Pink Iceland, are aware of our privilege, of the fact that we lead lives that scores of our fellow queer people in the world can only dream about. We know we can't behave like any other company, that we have to always be better, more socially aware, active and responsible. We don't always get it right. We've screwed up in the past and will probably do so again, but when we have, the community has pointed this out to us and we've done our best to right our wrongs.
Our weddings, due to their nature and history of this patriarchal institution and the fact that many of our clients identify within a gender binary means that much of the content we put out into the world celebrates a societal structure many do not feel includes them. If this applies to you, please know that there is no ill intent or ulterior motive in trying to force a binary / heternormative or even homonormative standard on the lives of queer people. We wholeheartedly celebrate, support and stand with all of the the community.
We'd like like to respectfully suggest that those who have an issue with our work, about who we are as individuals or what we stand for that they speak to us. If the intent of raising an issue with Pink Iceland, or one of us individually is to implement changes that benefit our community we want to hear it and we want to do better. We are proud of what we've achieved, we are proud to have a company led and staffed by people from the LGBTQ+ community. We are by no means above criticism, nor is our support given to absolve us from responsibility.
And finally - if you have any issues with how any of us personally present in terms of gender or sexuality you can email:
keep_it_to_yourself@itsnoneofyourbusiness.org