Members of the Tampa Bay Black Lesbians at a social gathering in 2023. (Photo courtesy TBBL)
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.
