The Good Page features positive LGBTQ+ news in Central Florida and Tampa Bay, uplifting and inspiring stories highlighting local stories in our community. In this issue, we check in with the Tampa Bay Black Lesbians, a social group which became its own nonprofit in 2024.
With President Donald Trump back in the White House and his administration’s actions impacting minority groups across America, the organization has stepped up to offer support and a safe space for those who need it.
The group launched a new virtual meetup series called “TBBL Is Holding Space” on Jan. 11. During that first meeting, attendees discussed a range of topics, mostly their day-to-day happenings, as well as politics and the new administration.
“Having a rough week? Need to chat? Need some friends for a pep talk? Just need some company and community? Grab a beverage and log on,” the description for the new series reads. “No pressure, no expectations, just good company and listening ears — a safe, no judgement zone for Black & Brown LGBTIA+ women.”
These meetups will take place on the second Saturday of every month into the Spring but could continue beyond that depending on turnout. The next two events are scheduled for Feb. 8 and March 8.
“If it goes further will depend on the attendees,” says Silk-Jazmyne, TBBL board member and host. “If there’s a need, we’ll keep doing it.”
For months, the organization’s leaders and members closely followed news about the presidential race between Trump and former President Joe Biden, then former Vice President Kamala Harris.
“We were waiting with bated breath for the election results … [and] as a group, we were keeping tabs on different legislation,” Silk-Jazmyne says. “So, when we found out that Trump had won, we immediately, as a board, comforted each other, and then it was a question of ‘okay, how can we comfort the community? How can we support them?’”
She began hearing TBBL members and other LGBTQ+ people in the state say they were considering moving away from Florida, which has enacted a number of laws targeting the queer community in the years leading up to Trump’s re-election. The Florida Legislature also maintained its conservative supermajority last year.
“But there were also a lot of us saying, one, we don’t want to move, or two, we think that it’s important to stay and fight and support one another,” Silk-Jazmyne says. “Because if everybody moves, then we can’t make any change.”
She and other board members conceptualized “TBBL Is Holding Space” for that purpose. They say it is needed for the organization’s members during this critical time.
“As a Black lesbian, we’re marginalized and then we’re marginalized again, and the way that that intersects is, a lot of the times, the spaces that we’re in don’t hold space for us,” she explains. “So, it’s important for us to hold space for our entire being and our entire identity.”
As the series launches, the meetups are loosely organized. During the first gathering, people mostly spoke about what was happening in their lives and other shared concerns.
“One person was talking about parenting; somebody else was talking about going through a break-up recently,” Silk-Jazmyne recalls.
She hopes to organize the virtual gatherings further down the road by featuring various professionals, from therapists to other specialized speakers.
“Eventually, I do want it to be more organized, but for right now, this event is exactly what it is,” Silk-Jazmyne continues. “It’s just to hold space, especially as a Black lesbian.”
TBBL will do exactly that on the second Saturdays of each month from 2-3 p.m.
When I first met Tamara Leigh, I had no idea the impact she would have on our community or how she would become such an important part of not only my life, but the lives of thousands in the queer community in Tampa Bay and beyond.
Her passion for community is unparalleled and her commitment to making the world a better place is honorable. Through her DEI consulting business, her queer person of color magazine Blaque/OUT and her group the Tampa Bay Black Lesbians, Tamara has opened doors for many professionals to tap into their talents and share them with their communities.
I first learned of Blaque/OUT when a call for models was put out for a queer POC to pose semi-nude on the cover. I answered the call because, why not? When I spoke to Tamara about her vision, I was blown away at her creativity and as a writer, I wanted to be a part of the magazine. But her vision didn’t stop there.
Tamara is the founder of Blaque/OUT Equity & Inclusivity Architects, a consulting firm that takes a very different approach to DEI work. Through speaking engagements, workshops and more, she and her team speak from points of personal experience to help organizations evolve. She also helped create one of the most important tools for our trans community this year, the Blaque/OUT T.R.A.I.I. (Trans Remembrance Archive and Information Index) mapping system.
In collaboration with the incredible team at GIS Scholars, Inc., Blaque/OUT has developed a powerful tool that integrates geospatial technology with critical data concerning every known individual from the trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming/gender expansive communities who have lost their lives to violence since 2018. The T.R.A.I.I. is a free resource, accessible to all individuals and organizations that allows users to layer various factors such as victimology, geographic region, and gender identity onto a map.
Its visualization provides valuable insight into who each of these individuals were and the details surrounding their cases. The hope is that the T.R.A.I.I. will empower groups and organizations to lobby more effectively for funding, enable investigators to identify patterns with greater speed and accuracy, and most importantly, keep the memories of our lost siblings alive.
As if all of that wasn’t enough, when Tamara moved to Tampa Bay she found it hard to find “her people,” so she started the Tampa Bay Black Lesbians as a Facebook group.
It quickly grew to over 1,000 members and evolved to a community centered, nonprofit organization in 2024. Most recently TBBL helped several members with recovery efforts from the hurricanes, providing hot food, helping to replace lost items, utilizing the human resources within the group to connect members with whatever assistance they required. All efforts are donation based or funded from the events that the group puts on annually to support the nonprofit while staying close to its social origins.
To say that Tamara Leigh is one of the most Remarkable People of the year is, for me, an understatement. I am honored to know her, proud to write about her, but overall, grateful to call her my friend.
TAMPA BAY | Tampa Bay Black Lesbians, a social group which first formed in 2021, has officially become a nonprofit.
TBBL started as a small Facebook group and quickly grew into an organization of over 1,000 people. The organization’s website notes “we are a powerful group of strong, beautiful, accomplished, educated and joyful friends, sisters, wives, partners, mothers, teachers, revolutionaries, CEOs, entrepreneurs and world changers,” stressing that “Black women are a FORCE!”
TBBL Founder Tamara Leigh and other members formed Tampa Bay Black Lesbians Inc. in June to further showcase that. The nonprofit is dedicated “to fostering a supportive and inclusive environment where Queer Black Women can thrive through community engagement, advocacy, and resources by celebrating diversity, championing equity, and creating safer spaces to build a stronger, more connected community for all.”
Leigh is also the founder and editor of Blaque Out Magazine, which serves as “a home for Black, Brown and Trans stories” and works to “inspire readers to find their truths and be their authentic selves.” She formed TBBL after moving to St. Petersburg from New York in 2020 to create a space specifically for Black lesbians, something she felt was missing in the region.
“As we went from 100 to 300 to 700 members, the dynamics within the group changed,” she says. “At the beginning, it was like a little family. Then it very much grew into a community and as we moved over 1000 people, the dynamic changed again. I think it was an opportunity for us to sort of reevaluate where we were and where we wanted to go with this.”
TBBL plans to announce its full board in September. In the interim, an advisory board is in place as they continue to host a range of events, including smaller, more intimate group hangouts and larger events like their annual Get Nude party held last June.
The group has hosted the annual event, a partnership with St Pete Pride, for three years. Like each of the nonprofit’s events, its focus is creating spaces for marginalized communities within an already marginalized community.
TBBL also recently launched their new Influencer program and additional events are forthcoming. Leigh says to expect the usual meetups for which the group is known in addition to new ventures and merchandise that support their mission.
She also hopes the group’s presence is seen as inclusionary and empowering. Events thrown by TBBL, such as Get Nude, can be attended by all in the community; their purpose is just to keep LGBTQ+ Black and brown women at the forefront.
“It’s incredibly important to have spaces where any and all of us can feel safe, and that’s why groups like ours exist,” she explains. “I think it’s important to stress that having specific organizations that represent and program for groups of people for marginalized groups within marginalized groups isn’t divisive or oppositional. It’s just to ensure that safe spaces for all of us exist — which isn’t a given in any space, but certainly is a given in ours.”
For more information about the Tampa Bay Black Lesbians, future events and more, visit BlackOut.com/Tampa-Bay-Black-Lesbians or visit Facebook.com/WeAreTBBL.
Tags: blaque out magazine, st pete pride, Tamara Leigh, tampa bay black lesbians
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