Originally formed in 2001 by the Kelowna Women's Resource Centre, facilitated by Deb Kerluk. It has since expanded beyond Kelowna and helps like minded women through out the Thompson Okanagan connect. We are not interested in being political, or competing with other community groups, or "online social media groups like Facebook some of whom have taken our name". We are here as a service for those who wish to connect in person, face to face, who can respect the purpose of our group, the diversity of it's individuals, the privacy of each, and have respect for each individual's degree of outness. We provide opportunity for lesbians and bi's to connect amongst themselves, whereas other groups such as noglo, gala, sogala, orc, etc. provide social events to the whole community.

One of the biggest problems within our community can be isolation from our peers and a feeling of desperation "Am I the only one here?" This group provides a connection to other like minded women in the Okanagan community. There are some get togethers that are published privately through the closed group email.

Why the Rainbow name, what does it mean? At our original meeting, at the Kelowna Women's Centre in 2001, the forming members discussed possible names. The reason we came up with Rainbow women is because universally the 6 colour flag has been adopted by the lgbt community as their symbol, so we felt this name would signify lesbian women. Also the rainbow is a global symbol for diversity ... "all the colours of the rainbow". We felt this was fitting and we wanted to be inclusive of all women who might want to join our group ... lesbian, bisexual, women still questioning their orientation, and women who are lgbt friendly.  WE ARE RAINBOW WOMEN .