Affirmations

Dancing is fun. 🤠

Moving around with other q***r people is fun.

That’s the whole pitch.

Q***r Line Dancing
🗓 Saturday, October 3 • 12–2 PM
📍 Affirmations, Ferndale
✨ Free to attend, donations welcome
👢 Drop-in
🌈 All bodies welcome • No experience needed

Lavender Lasso Detroit is leading us through q***r country line dancing. No partner needed, no experience needed, no perfect rhythm required. You do not need to show up already knowing the steps.

Part of Move!, our health & wellness series at Affirmations in partnership with Gilda's Club Metro Detroit.

A little q***r yeehaw. Just show up. 💜

Wednesday night. We have an idea.🍕

Meet us at next week for pizza, q***r company, and two extremely low-stakes hours of hanging out.

Catch up with somebody you know. Meet somebody you don’t. Say hi to a few of our volunteers. Eat pizza. That’s pretty much the assignment.

🍕 Wednesday, September 30
⏰ 6–8 PM
📍 Como’s Ferndale
💜 Pizza is on us

Come tired. Come hungry. Come by yourself. We’re just happy you came.

You’ve made enough decisions this week. We’ll make Wednesday for you. 😋

Meet the people and groups we’re celebrating on Sunday.

This year’s Aff Five have shown up whenever the Center needed them, reopened a creative space, built visibility and resources for trans people, turned endurance cycling into vital support for Affirmations, and spent decades organizing for LGBTQ+ people across Michigan.

Our 2026 Aff Five honorees:

💜 John Sauvé — Outstanding Collective Spirit Award
💜 Kim Hale — Volunteer of the Year Award
💜 Rachel Crandall Crocker — Community Hero Award
💜 Ryanne Reigling — Michigan LGBTQ+ Philanthropy Award
💜 Rev. Dr. Roland Stringfellow — Community Leadership & Impact Award

We’re also proud to recognize:

💜 John Stanaszek — Legacy & Impact Award
💜 Forest Bakery — Local Q***r-Friendly Business Award
💜 Stonewall Sports Detroit — Community Cares Award

Swipe through to meet them. Then come clap loudly for them in person Sunday. Betty J Madison will be on the mic as our drag host and performer, and we’ll keep the celebration going with a reception afterward.

Sunday, September 27
Doors 1:30 PM · Ceremony 2 PM
Reception until 5 PM
Affirmations · 290 W Nine Mile · Ferndale

RSVP here so we know how many chairs to put out: https://bit.ly/4rhNJIx

Deciding at the last minute? Come anyway. We want you in the room. 💜

Bisexuals, front and center please. 🩷💜💙

Today we are making you visible on purpose.

You do not owe anybody a 50/50 split. You do not become more or less bisexual depending on who you’re dating. You do not need a résumé, a body count, a pie chart, or supporting documentation. And no, picking a partner does not mean you “picked a side.”

The bi people with a type. The bi people whose “type” is apparently just yes. The people with a dating history that tells you absolutely nothing about who they might be into next. The people who knew immediately, the people who figured it out later, and the people who are still finding the language that fits.

Bi people have been organizing, marching, building community, making culture, falling in love, being hot, and refusing to disappear for a very long time.

And because visibility is better when it comes with actual community: our Bisexual+ Community Support Group meets Mondays from 7–8 PM at Affirmations. Come talk, connect, be around people who get it, sit weirdly in chairs together (bisexuals never sit straight), make a friend. You know. Community things.

Happy Bi Visibility Day to the whole beautiful bi+ family. We see you. We’re very glad you’re here. 🩷💜💙

— your friendly community g**s at Aff

Yep, that’s us! Circled aggressively in pink so you don’t miss it. 💗

Detroit Metro Times named Affirmations “Best Place to Be Yourself Before You’re Ready to Explain Yourself” in its 2026 Best of Detroit issue, which hits right in the heart.

“Sometimes what you need first is somewhere you can just walk in and be.”

At it's core, that’s the whole thing. 💜

Thank you to Detroit Metro Times for seeing what we’re trying to make possible here — a place for q***r and trans people to walk in without having the right words, the right label, or everything already figured out. A place where you can just be.

And there’s a whole lot of q***r Detroit represented in this year’s Best of Detroit! Big congrats to Ruth Ellis Center, LGBT Detroit, Ferndale Pride, Motor City Pride, and Hotter Than July on their honors, too. Look at us all go! We are never doing this work alone. 💕

Nine Mile is getting funky this weekend. So are we. 👀

Affirmations’ Funky Art Sale is happening this Saturday from 10 AM–3 PM, right here on Nine Mile.

We’ll have donated art, pottery, oddities, and whatever other wonderfully weird things made their way through our front doors over the last few weeks — all up for grabs, with 100% of proceeds supporting LGBTQ+ programming at Affirmations.

So wander the Art Fair. Buy something beautiful. Buy something strange.

Put us on your Funky Ferndale route. We’ll be here.

Tomorrow night: Q***r Tango. ♥️

It can be a date, a friend hang, or just a reason to get yourself out of the house on a Saturday night. If there’s somebody you’ve been flirting with, though, we are not saying this is a bad opportunity.

Q***r Tango Detroit will be at Aff from 6–8 PM for an evening of q***r tango, dancing beyond the binaries, and learning what to do with your feet once you get there.

And truly: you do not need to know how to tango. That is very much why there is a class.

Saturday, September 19 · 6–8 PM
18+ · Drop-in
Affirmations · 290 W Nine Mile · Ferndale

Suggested donation is $10–20 and goes directly to the facilitators. Pay what you can; no one will be turned away.

Saturday night. A little dancing. A little chemistry, maybe. Something different. We’ll see you there. :)

Some people spend all year doing the work that keeps our community going. That deserves more than a passing thank-you.

Heart of the Work: Aff Five Awards is Affirmations’ annual community celebration. Through five awards, we’ll honor people and groups whose care, labor, leadership, generosity, and persistence make Michigan’s LGBTQ+ community stronger, safer, and more connected.

And because an awards ceremony deserves a host who knows what to do with a microphone, Betty J Madison is joining us as drag host and performer.

We want you in the room for it. 💜

Sunday, September 27
Doors 1:30 PM · Ceremony 2 PM
Reception until 5 PM
Affirmations · 290 W Nine Mile · Ferndale

RSVP here: https://bit.ly/4rhNJIx so we know how many chairs to put out. We’re planning the room, not gatekeeping the door.

Turns out volunteering is a pretty good way to meet other gay people. 💜

This month’s Volunteer of the Month is Angel Ash!

Angel keeps coming back to Aff because volunteering puts them in the middle of q***r community: friends, connections, and (because this is Aff) probably another event to put on the calendar.

We talk a lot about how volunteers are the folks who help make our center run — because they are. But volunteering can also be a reason to leave the house, do something useful, and accidentally end up with a little q***r home base.

Thank you, Angel, for continuing to show up, jump in, and make Affirmations a more fun place to be. We’re very glad you’re here.

If “I need more q***r friends” has been floating around in your brain lately: we do, conveniently, have volunteer opportunities.

Learn more about volunteering at bit.ly/AffVolunteer

Food is community care. 💜

Affirmations’ food pantry helps people in our community access food with care and dignity, and donations from our community make that possible.

If you’re able, swipe through the list and bring donations to the Affirmations front desk anytime the Center is open.

We’re accepting shelf-stable items like canned meats, canned meals, soups, beans, pasta, cereal, oatmeal, snacks, granola bars, protein bars, and Ensure Max Protein Drinks.

It doesn’t have to be a full grocery haul. A few cans, a box of cereal, a couple protein bars, or an extra pack of pasta can help keep the pantry ready for the people who need it.

Can’t donate right now? Sharing this post is still a real way to help.

Taking care of each other is the work. Thank you for helping us do it.