LGBTQ+ Pride events return to metro Detroit: Your summer calendar
The dawn of summer means the return of LGBTQ+ Pride events across the United States, and southeast Michigan is no exception.
June 7-8 will bring more than 65,000 celebrants to Detroit's Hart Plaza for Motor City Pride, the state's single largest LGBTQ+ event, but Ferndale Pride couldn't contain the excitement and will be held on Saturday, May 31, to kick off the season.
The annual celebrations come amid a firestorm of fear and discontent among the queer community as President Donald Trump and right-wing politicians have routinely demeaned and attempted to dehumanize LGBTQ+ citizens through hate speech and targeted, homophobic and transphobic legislation. Despite threats and setbacks, the community remains determined to celebrate its hard-won successes this year.
'We're really looking forward to this year,' said Motor City Pride chair Dave Wait. 'We're excited (about) the interest; because of what's going on around the country and the rhetoric, I think we're going to have really good attendance as we all come together to support one another. Because of emotions, we're being extra aware with our security; we have good security arrangements. We feel great, great support from the city, the county, the state and the federal offices watching chatter that's out there, so I think we're in a real good position. There's a lot of behind-the-scenes work going on.'
Wait said increased interest this year prompted organizers to expand the area for vendors and exhibits.
'We're also expanding our history area,' he added, 'bringing in an exhibit from Milwaukee and setting it up in the exhibit area so that people can remember the pioneers who worked to get us where we are with equality in the United States.
"We have three stages of entertainment, about 50 different acts and probably 150 different performers for the weekend. The festival is both Saturday and Sunday, and the parade steps off at noon on Sunday. To me, that's one of our highlights, because we have so many allied organizations and individuals who come out to support equality in southeastern Michigan.
'It's a great day every year.'
Dozens of Pride events will take place this summer in metro Detroit. They include:
Located in the heart of downtown Ferndale, Michigan's biggest free-to-the-public LGBTQ+ festival boasts three stages and more than 220 vendors. Celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, the event will include DJ sets by Problematic Black Hottie and the legendary Stacey 'Hotwaxx' Hale.
12:30 – 10 p.m., downtown Ferndale. ferndalepride.com. Free.
Miss Alchemist is the DJ for this upscale rooftop party held at the newly renovated Avlí.
7-11 p.m., Avlí at MATI, 501 Monroe St., Detroit. eventbrite.com. Tickets start at $23.18.
5-10 p.m., Depot Town, Ypsilanti. firstfridaysypsi.com/ypsi-pride. Free.
More than 65,000 revelers will gather in Detroit's Hart Plaza over two days for Michigan's biggest Pride event. On Sunday, June 8, a noon parade will begin near Fort and Griswold Streets.
1-9 p.m. Saturday, June 7; 12:30-7 p.m. Sunday, June 8, Hart Plaza, Detroit. motorcitypride.org. $5 per day.
With proceeds going to The Ruth Ellis Center, this Pride event for Detroit's Village neighborhoods will feature live DJ sets from Amino808, Kindle, John Collins and Caleb Kruzel. An afterparty will be held from 8 p.m. – midnight at Two Birds (8130 Kercheval Ave.).
2 – 8 p.m., The Villages Biergarten, 1420 Van Dyke St., Detroit. instagram.com/village_pride_detroit.
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The second Saturday of each month, The Lesbian Social will take over the Cielo Rooftop Lounge at downtown Detroit's Cambria Hotel.
6-10 p.m., Cambria Hotel, 600 West Lafayette Blvd., Detroit. eventbrite.com. Tickets start at $23.18.
Family-friendly Warren Pride will include an 11:15 a.m parade, live music, drag, speaker, vendors and more.
Noon – 6 p.m., Warren City Square, Warren. warrencitypride.com. Free.
Downriver's two-day Pride event also features a separate, official after party at Wyandotte's Brickhouse (2935 Biddle Ave.), beginning at 9 p.m. Jessica Wild from 'RuPaul's Drag Race' will serve as special guests. Afterparty tickets start at $20.
Noon – 11 p.m., downtown Wyandotte. downriverpride.com. Free.
Schoolcraft College is host of this event featuring entertainment, vendors and more.
11 a.m. – 2 p.m., Schoolcraft College (green space between Liberal Arts and Forum buildings), 18600 Haggerty Rd., Livonia. livoniapride.org. Free.
Participants are encouraged to bring friends, neighbors and leashed, friendly Pride pups along for this family-friendly event that will include a short march, a drag performance, children's activities, a selfie station, activism opportunities and more.
Noon – 2 p.m., corner of Kercheval and St. Clair, Grosse Pointe. wegp.org. Free.
This country-themed Pride event will feature four hours of line dance and two-step with Stud Country, as well as performances by Tumbleweed, Winestoned Cowboys, Detroit Party Marching Band, Iris Marlowe, The Bootstrap Boys, Winnie Whiplash and Peachtree, as well as drag. A mechanical bull, barbecue, vendors, contests, prizes and more will be on hand.
5 p.m. – 2 a.m., The Old Miami, 3930 Cass Ave., Detroit. eventbrite.com. Tickets $23.18.
McMillan Behavioral Health and Addiction Services presents this booze-free dance party with mocktails, drag performances, and music by DJ Reezy.
4 – 8 p.m., 215 West, 215 W. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale. ferndalepride.com. Tickets $10.
This family-friendly event will include activities, guest speakers, performers, community resources, local vendors and food.
6-8:30 p.m., Heritage Park Amphitheater, 1150 S. Canton Center, Canton. cantonmi.gov. Free.
Adore Delano of 'RuPaul's Drag Race' will star at this Pride festival, which is free to attend but offers $25 VIP tickets that come with a photo op with Adore.
1-10 p.m., Old Town Lansing. lansingpride.com. Free.
This Ferndale Pride fundraiser, an 18-hole shotgun start golf tournament, includes a deli box lunch and dinner at the Maple Lane clubhouse. Prizes, a raffle, a 50/50 drawing and more are planned.
9 a.m. – 5 p.m., Maple Lane Golf Club, 33203 Maple Ln. Dr., Sterling Heights. ferndalepride.com. Tickets $130 per golfer.
This annual, Black LGBTQ+ staple in Detroit celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2025. The weeklong festival includes a July 22 candlelight vigil in Palmer Park, a July 23 mixer at Griot Music Lounge, a July 24 film festival at the Northwest Activities Center, a July 25 mayoral candidate forum, a July 26 Palmer Park picnic plus an opening party at Pandora's Boxx, and a July 26 worship service plus a brunch.
Multiple venues, Detroit. hotterthanjuly.org.
An annual favorite in the metro Detroit region, this daylong, family- and dog-friendly event features food and drink, dozens of vendors, live entertainment and more.
1-11 p.m., downtown Royal Oak. prideroyaloak.com.
This hugely popular festival draws tens of thousands to downtown A2.
Time TBA. annarborpride.com.
This free event includes performances, a street fair and more.
Noon-6 p.m., Main St., downtown Mount Clemens. macombcountypride.com. Free.
This annual picnic will celebrate its 26th anniversary in 2025, and presents opportunities for fun and fellowship among transgender people and allies. Bring your own food and beverage, or purchase from a local vendor.
Noon-6 p.m., Martin Road Park, 1900 Orchard Ave., Ferndale. transgendermichigan.org. Free.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: LGBTQ+ Pride events return to metro Detroit: Your summer calendar
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Travel + Leisure
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This trip just happened to take place days before Lunar New Year, and I was shocked to see an archway reading 'Lunar New Year' near Disney California Adventure decked out in traditional red-and-gold lanterns and tassels under an Asian-inspired, Mickey-shaped logo. Turns out, it was part of the park's annual Lunar New Year festivities, which initially started in 2012 as a week-long event, but has since expanded into a nearly month-long celebration. We saw menu items from Korean, Vietnamese, and Chinese cuisines, and there were even Mickey and Minnie characters dressed in traditional outfits. To see a park that felt so 'American' embrace Asian traditions went beyond just feeling seen, but like really being embraced and understood. It felt especially poignant during my nieces' first visit—knowing they'll grow up in a more inclusive society. The entrance to San Fransokyo Square in Disney's California Adventure Park. 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Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The Trump Administration Is Shutting Down a Gay Landmark Ahead of WorldPride
The Trump administration is in an ugly fight with the LGBTQ+ community in Washington. But instead of focusing on political issues like trans rights, the outrage involves a neighborhood park — and highlights theabsurdity of the federal government's vast landholdings across the capital. At issue is the National Park Service's decision to fence off Dupont Circle ahead of the upcoming Pride parade. The park is the traditional heart of the local gay community, one that's especially vibrant during the first weekend of June. Closing it during Pride is like shutting down the landmark site of the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. The Park Service claims this is to prevent damage by revelers. But plenty of outraged locals see a more sinister motivation. 'Dupont Circle is sacred ground for the LGBTQ+ community — a place with a rich history of protest, pride and joy,' said Zachary Parker, an openly gay Democratic member of the city council. 'Closing it during one of the most significant global celebrations of our community sends the wrong message.' Coming days after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the Navy to strip the name of gay-rights pioneer Harvey Milk off a naval vessel, it's hard not to wonder whether that wrong message was something other than an accident. 'It seems motivated by animus,' said Zar, a one-named LGBTQ+ community advocate and events planner who organized some political programming around the city's ongoing WorldPride festival. 'It's pushing an agenda. It seems tactical, like somebody said, 'let's mess with people.' ... Maybe they think they're going to cause people to act up, to see if people knock down fences and push a police officer. They want to shut it all down.' Anywhere else, the regulation of a grassy traffic circle would be a strictly a question for city hall. But in Washington, where the federal government owns 90 percent of the open space, many neighborhood parks are ultimately under the control of the White good news for D.C. is that it gets to have one of the nicest park systems in the country. The bad news is that the National Park Service isn't really built for folks who want to do things like play pickup basketball, stage a political protest or take part in a weekend of Pride festivities. In places like Yellowstone, the kinds of activities that happen in a city park are seen as hazards. Over the years, this culture clash has led to a bunch of completely inane controversies, like the time the Park Service ejected a bocce ball league from nearby Logan Circle because of National Park regulations against organized sports. But in the second Trump term, where the administration has sought to put its MAGA cultural stamp on Washington landmarks ranging from the Kennedy Center to the now-erased Black Lives Matter mural on 16th Street, the decision to close Dupont Circle during Pride is not going to be treated as another contretemps between an obtuse federal bureaucracy and a big-city neighborhood. The National Park Service declined to comment but shared documentation of a finding that 'this closure is necessary for the maintenance of public health and safety and protection of natural and cultural resources in Dupont Circle Park.' According to the Park Service documents, the initial request for a closure came from the city's police chief, Pamela Smith, herself a former Park Service official. Smith cited alcohol use, unpermitted sound systems and physical damage during prior Pride weekends. After a noisy backlash from neighbors (i.e., the people who elect Smith's bosses) she rescinded the request. But the Park Service (which answers to the White House) decided to stick with the closure. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declined to comment, but speaking on a radio show Friday afternoon, she called the initial request an 'unfortunate error' that should have been reversed as a matter of course. She said talks continued, but her administration was working on finding another space. 'I think it's important to have an alternate plan that we do control,' she said. Given that the circle during Pride weekend is a place to hang out rather than a locus of official events, it was a strange assertion. (Until last year, Dupont Circle was the traditional endpoint of the parade, but it has since been rerouted to the National Mall, leaving the park as an informal gathering spot.) 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But it's also another reminder that day-to-day life in the capital — even after work, even far away from the White House — is a lot more subject to federal whims than most locals like to admit. The same WorldPride festival has already been rocked by the abrupt withdrawal of private-sector philanthropic donors, many of whom turned out to be federal contractors who decided that supporting Pride was a bad look in the age of Trump's anti-DEI campaign. The president has changed Washington life in a myriad of ways that longtime residents didn't expect. All in all, it's a terrible look for Washington. The city spent millions to support WoldPride, an event that was supposed to showcase the city's vibrant gay community and tolerant local culture in front of visitors from around the world. And now the heart of that community is surrounded by giant fences and the locals apparently can't do a thing about it.
Washington Post
18 minutes ago
- Washington Post
‘We have to fight': WorldPride attendees on why they're still celebrating
As WorldPride in Washington winds to its official close on Sunday, The Washington Post spoke with visitors about why they decided to attend the festival and what it meant to be a part of it. In the interviews below, visitors from near and far told us they were participating in WorldPride this year not just to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community, but to stand defiantly in a time of political backlash and rising threats to hard-won rights. Whether honoring decades of struggle, protecting their families, or simply claiming space, they spoke of resilience, resistance, and a commitment to being seen and heard.
