Ferndale Pride’s 13th Year Brings Community Together
(Mary Dupuis, June 11, 2023)
Ferndale, MI – In honor of June being Pride month, the 13th Ferndale Pride was held on June 3 to promote the pride and recognition of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, asexual, intersex and ally communities.
Ferndale Pride is a free event made possible by the collaboration of residents, businesses and community groups to foster inclusion and celebrate diversity in what the event’s website calls, “the Detroit area’s unofficial ‘gayborhood.’”
The LGBTQIA+ festival stretched from 12:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. and was packed with events and resources for the community to enjoy.
There were food trucks and ice cream stations set up for eventgoers while the restaurants along the street had lines going out the door. There were also vendors selling jewelry, clothing, crystals and other Pride-related merchandise.
There was a DJ booth set up near the entrance to the festival and a stage set up further down the street for music groups to perform on as the day went on. Other performances included Bobcat Bonnie’s Drag Performances and Drag storytime.
The free, health-related services offered to eventgoers were sexual health services and screenings, drug and alcohol recovery services and groups, gender-affirming clothing giveaways, harm reduction services, suicide prevention and lactation services. There were also sensory stations to help those who were overstimulated by all of the action and excitement to decompress.
In addition to health services, there were also feel-good organizations ready and waiting to make sure eventgoers felt loved at Pride.
The President of Free Mom Hugs Inc., Arleta J. Greer, could be found beaming as she strolled through the festival with rainbows painted on her cheeks and in her hair, ready to wrap anyone who needed it in a warm embrace.
Founded by Sara Cunningham, Free Mom Hugs began in 2015 when Cunningham attended the Oklahoma City Pride Festival with a homemade button that read, “Free Mom Hugs,” and offered a hug to anyone and everyone who wanted one.
Today, Free Mom Hugs is a nonprofit organization that has chapters in all 50 states as well as other initiatives forming globally.
Greer has been with the organization for the last five years, and said while they still found ways to support the community through COVID-19, she’s thankful everyone is able to be together at the festival once more.
“Pride for me is a chance to see people come together that are all accepting of each other,” Greer said. “It’s a judgement-free zone and it’s so much love. So much excitement and love and joy…It’s been lovely now to see people starting to come back out again.”
Greer said Pride felt especially important this year with all of the hate and discrimination aimed at the community in recent months.
“There’s been so much damage done to this community, and it’s so unnecessary,” Greer said. “I have friends, I have family and my wife is transgender. My youngest is gender fluid. I just hate to see all the hate that’s going on right now. It’s like, (Pride) is more of what we need. Pride is an amazing time when everybody can just relax and enjoy.”
To ensure the everyone’s spirits stayed high, Gordon Matson acted as the official Mascot of Ferndale Pride.
Matson could be seen from a mile away decked in rainbows from head to toe alongside his husband of five years, Tim Osiwala. Matson said he’s become well-known for doing five to six outfit changes as the festival goes on, and finds the attention it brings to be exciting.
Matson said the rainbow suits and top hats the pair wore to Ferndale Pride this year were the same suits they had worn to New York City for World Pride a while back, which landed them a cover story photo on MSNBC Nightly News.
“We took photos with people from Korea, Copenhagen, I mean every corner of the planet they were there,” Osiwala said. “We left our hotel room at nine in the morning and we didn’t get to the parade until seven in the evening. We stopped for one (group who wanted a photo), then a line of 10, then 15, then 20.”
Both Matson and Osiwala wished everyone in the community and their allies a happy Pride month.
Ferndale Pride will continue to host more Pride events as June continues, some of which can be found on their website.
For more things to do, visit the Oakland County Times Event Page!
To submit event info email editor@oc115.com .
Thank you to Jim Shaffer & Associates Realtors for sponsoring this section!
