Leather Digest

TAMPA BAY – They exchanged clothing and stories to celebrate the season. The snacks and refreshments providing a welcoming environment for the community to gather. A place of like-minded individuals. 

They acted as friends returning for the holiday to the Tampa bay area, but the group’s inception began over two years ago in Athens, Georgia with the creation of the Peach City Sapphics.

The Sun City Sapphics was founded this year for Florida’s Tampa Bay area. With the mission of creating community groups to foster connection, joy, and belonging for sapphic individuals. 

Ciara Peebles, the group’s founders strong background in research and advocacy, with experience studying justice reform, victimization, and the experience of marginalized survivors. 

When asked how the important it has been to the current and prospective members to have sapphic representation at the helm of the groups’ leaderships, Ciara recalls “I think it’s really important. With queer people and our spaces, we really don’t get to have a voice a lot of the time, or people try and tell our story for us, so I think it’s good to have that kind of voice in leadership to provide other perspective.”

It was the passion for her community and empowerment that inspired, the groups creation, aiming to expand spaces nationwide to create local hubs of queer connection across the country. 

“Communities often created from internal members with a true authentic connection to measurable change, often see the highest organic success rate.” Theatra Rose Hamilton, political activist with an emphasis on the deep south states. 

“I was in grad school in Georgia, and it was at a PWI, so there wasn’t much of black queer scene or a just queer scene in general, it was very not diverse. I wanted to help with my experience because I was starting to feel lonely of meeting other diverse people of queer backgrounds. So, I started doing events in Atlanta in 2023 and it’s been growing ever since.” Ciara recalls.

As the season comes to a close, Sun City Sapphics stands as more than a series of gatherings, it is a response to absence, isolation, and the need to be seen. 

What began as one woman’s search for connection has grown into a space where shared identity becomes shared strength. In Tampa Bay, community is not just being found, it’s being intentionally built.