Brothers of Atlanta · Est. 2026 40 Years · 1986
Love showed up. So did we.
WhereSouthwest Atlanta
Address sent after you RSVP
BringYourself and a brother
Light refreshments served · Free
RSVP
Two boxes and you're done. We'll email you the address.
Adodi is a forty-year-old brotherhood of Black gay and same-gender-loving men of African descent. It started in 1986 in a Philadelphia living room and it has never really changed: brothers sit down together and tell the truth about their lives.
That's it. It isn't a church, it isn't therapy, it isn't a mixer, and it isn't an organization you have to join to show up. There are chapters in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Detroit, DC, Dallas, and across the South — and now here.
Who it's for → Black gay, bisexual, and same-gender-loving men of African descent. Out or not. Twenty-two or seventy-two. First time or fortieth year.
Three of us spent a weekend in Philadelphia — the city where this started — celebrating forty years of Adodi.
In 1986 it was one man's living room in Philly. Forty years later we went back, and there were brothers in that room from all over the country.
The theme was Tapestry. But a tapestry doesn't get woven at a retreat. It gets woven at home — thread by thread, over time.
So we're starting Atlanta's.
"We can allow ourselves to be seen without our masks."
An Ado, in ADODI, 30 Years & Beyond
No program. No panel. No performance. We open with the Six Principles, everybody says their name, and then we just talk about what is actually going on in our lives.
The Six Principles have guided Adodi since 1995 — Spiritually Guided · Honesty, Openness and Clarity · Sensitivity to Feelings · Carefronting · Resolution · The Five A's. We read them in full at the start of every gathering. Read them →
You'll be asked your name and one word for how you walked in. After that you speak when it comes to you — and everyone else listens. No advice, no fixing, no cross-talk. We receive what a brother says.
Then we eat a little and nobody rushes to leave.
If you've never done anything like this, that's exactly who it's for. Come anyway. Bring somebody.
"What does brotherhood mean to you?" is a big question and most of us have never been asked it out loud. That's exactly why we're asking.
You don't have to be deep. You don't have to be ready. Some brothers tell a whole story. Some say four words and hand it to the next man. Somebody usually makes the room laugh and that counts too.
Here's how brothers have answered it over the last forty years.
“Come in the water and we'll hold you.”
To a brother who couldn't swim
“Whatever you need, I'll get it.”
Said at a first retreat · kept for twelve years
“They're no longer strangers. They're my brothers that I love.”
After one weekend
Ados speaking in ADODI, 30 Years & Beyond
Bring whatever you've got. That's enough.
No. You can pass. Plenty of brothers sit their whole first gathering and just listen, and that's a real way to be in the room. Nobody will put you on the spot.
That's most people's first time. Somebody will meet you at the door, learn your name, and make sure you're not standing by yourself. That part is somebody's actual job for the night.
No. Adodi is spiritually grounded but not tied to any faith. Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Ifá, twelve-step, agnostic, atheist — all of it has been welcome for forty years, and the rule has always been the same: that brother is here, that brother's in a circle, include him.
It isn't. Adodi exists because Black gay men needed somewhere to be known rather than looked over. Come as you are, but come for the conversation.
Yes. What's said in that room stays in that room, and no photos are taken of anyone who doesn't want to be photographed. Just tell us at the door.
No. It's free, refreshments included, and it stays that way. There are no dues.
A private home in Southwest Atlanta. We send the full address by email once you RSVP — that's how we keep the gathering small and everybody safe.
Please do. Bringing a brother is how this has grown for forty years. Just let us know when you RSVP so we set out enough chairs.
Adodi started in 1986 when one brother opened his home in Philadelphia every Friday night. Something to eat, and men talking honestly about what was going on in their lives. No program, no agenda. That was the whole thing.
We are doing that here. Food, conversation, connection, and the Adodi Principles. Come as you are and stay as long as you want.
Come meet new brothers, reconnect with Ados you already know, and find your way back if you have been away because there was never a chapter close to home.
What is said in that room is what we build here. This is how the brotherhood Metro Atlanta needs gets made.
In 1986, Black gay men in Philadelphia were dying of AIDS — and dying alone. Put out by their families. Turned away by their churches. Names left off their own obituaries.
A brother named Clifford Rawlins opened his home every Friday night. A meal, and men telling the truth about their lives. What he built was a non-judgmental village. He used to say it was an Adodi meeting even if only two people were in the room.
The name is ancestral. Adodi is the plural of Ado — Yoruba for a man who loves another man, revered in those traditions as a healer and a sage. The name itself refuses the shame.
Forty years later, we're doing the same thing here. Our gathering schedule is taking shape now — RSVP above and you'll be the first to know as dates are set.
This page is a placeholder. The real one is being built — and so is the year behind it.
Dates are being set now. RSVP for the 15th and you'll hear all of it first.
Adodi Atlanta is volunteer-run. There are no dues and no fees — every gathering is free, and it stays that way. Gifts cover the room, the refreshments, and brothers who need help getting to the national retreat.
We are a fiscally sponsored chapter of Adodi National, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Your gift is tax-deductible.
Reach out to giveCan't make the 15th? Follow along and you'll know when the next one is.