Take a Hike in Queer Community, Cheer on the Pistons, Celebrate LGBTQ+ Academia
It’s that late-winter moment in Michigan when the sun lingers just long enough to make us believe in hope again. The crocuses are plotting. Your group chat is waking up. And you, dear reader, deserve to leave the house for something other than just buying oat milk. This current lineup includes fresh air, fierce scholarship, experimental queer performance and basketball with hot dogs. Let’s do something that reminds us we’re alive.
1. Wander for Spring at the Queer Nature Club Hike
If you’ve been craving proof that winter is not, in fact, forever, join the Queer Nature Club for a gentle, curious ramble through Central Park South in Okemos, just east of Lansing. The mission: Spot early plant sprouts, birds doing their flirty seasonal thing and maybe even vernal pools. It’s low-pressure, high-delight, and open to LGBTQ+ folks and allies of all ages (minors with adults). Trails are mostly flat, a mix of paved and dirt, possibly muddy — which honestly feels on-brand for March. Wear boots. Bring wonder. Leave pets at home.
March 19, 1–3 p.m., Central Park South (1990 Central Park Drive, Okemos). bit.ly/queernaturehike.
2. Cheer Loudly at Pistons Pride Night
It's that time of year again, when professional basketball goes queer. Pride Night ticket package includes a seat for Pistons vs. Pelicans, access to the Pride Party Area with all-you-can-eat arena fare including hot dogs, nachos, popcorn, pop, water (carb-loading for equality can be a thing of beauty), a complimentary Pride giveaway, a themed halftime performance and the chance to shoot a free throw on the Pistons court after the game. Even (or perhaps especially) if your athletic peak was middle school dodgeball, you deserve this moment. Organized by the Detroit LGBT Chamber of Commerce, it’s community, spectacle and snacks in one glitter-adjacent package.
March 26, 7 p.m., Little Caesars Arena (2645 Woodward Ave., Detroit). gofevo.com/event/Pridenight336.
3. Witness Wonder at 'Fawn' in Ypsilanti
Award-winning artist and University of Michigan dance professor Charli Brissey premieres “Fawn,” a 75-minute interdisciplinary solo performance exploring grief, desire and how one body can hold contradiction without combusting. Drawing from mythology, trauma response (“fawn” as appeasement) and queer ecological dreamscapes, Brissey plays with the double meaning of “fawn” and “faun," celebrating what some might consider our community's superpower: the ability to mourn and dance all at once.
March 13–15, Ypsilanti Freighthouse (100 Market Place, Ypsilanti). bit.ly/fawnumich.
4. Support Scholarship at the Queer & Trans Research Symposium
Craving a space where queer and trans scholarship is the default setting, not the diversity footnote? The University of Michigan’s Queer and Trans Research Symposium has you covered. This half-day conference uplifts graduate, professional and undergraduate student research across disciplines. It’s a chance to watch emerging scholars present, network with faculty and peers and remember that knowledge production is also community care. Show up, listen well, ask thoughtful questions and maybe leave feeling a little more hopeful about the future of academia and the LGBTQ+ people inside it.
March 13, 11 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Rackham Assembly Hall (915 E. Washington St., Ann Arbor). bit.ly/researchumich.
5. Identify Your Queer Safety Net
Queer resilience sometimes looks like paperwork. Take 15 minutes to update your emergency contact info in your phone, and make sure you've done all paperwork for your medical proxy. Does at least one person in your group apartment know your medical history, your pharmacy and your allergies? Have a designated spot to keep all the info — some folks choose the refrigerator. It’s not glamorous. But it is wildly loving.
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