When I travel outside of Florida to Blue States to join Queer and Sapphic (women or non-binary loving women) spaces, I’m often met with sad eyes, sympathy, and questions about how I’m surviving in a state that has a lot of hostility toward the LGBTQ+ Community. I previously lived in a less hostile state than Florida, so I understand the questions and curiosity.
However, it is so important to realize that there are Queer Southerners too — we don’t only live in California or New York. Living in Orlando, one of the most progressive cities in Florida, got me involved. I grew closer to my community and embraced my identity as a Queer person. This was always a struggle being raised in a Black Christian Haitian Household that was not queer affirming and more aligned with traditional Christianity.
Queer people in the South deserve to have spaces that make us happy and feel safe. It wasn’t the Pittsburgh suburb I grew up in that allowed me to embrace my identity. It was the moments I was at Girl the Party at Southern Nights, Pride of Color, LGBTQ+ Services, Peer Support Space, the Multicultural Student Center, or the Sapphic Party that I met so many people who impacted my journey in navigating my identity and showing up as my authentic self. It pushed me out of my comfort zone to be in spaces such as Creating Change, League of Her Own, Dyke March, Cubbyhole, Henrietta Hudson, and The Bush. Without these spaces in Orlando, I would not even think of being in those spaces up North or out West.
Interviewing two trailblazers, Dayanna Peek and Ivy Les Vixen, allowed me to reflect on the importance of our spaces as our community faces attacks from far-right extremists who push very unpopular legislation in this state or want to expand their attacks on the national stage with manifestos such as Project 25.
The Sapphic Party
In 2022, Dayanna Peek, a 22-year-old party organizer from Orlando, established a Black-led, ever-growing, music- and market-filled lesbian gathering. With 50 people in attendance, the Los Angeles-inspired Sapphic Party was born.
Peek wanted to create spaces in the Republican-led state known for its growing hostility toward LGBTQ+ folk as they noticed a gap in lesbian and women-loving-women spaces in the Sunshine State.
The success of the first event led to a Sapphic-only Halloween Party, kickstarting the traveling party across the Florida Peninsula.
Since the 1980s, Lesbian bars and nightclubs have decreased in size, with the Lesbian Bar Project estimating that there are only 32 lesbian bars in the country. For every lesbian bar, there are 30 times more gay bars, showcasing that many states do not have a dedicated nightlife space for Queer women to interact with each other. This decreases the number of safe spaces for Sapphic individuals.
The Lesbian Bar Project defines lesbian bars as spaces that prioritize people of marginalized genders, such as cis women, trans women, non-binary people, and trans men. With their work and documentary, they crowdfunded over $117K to keep the remaining lesbian bars open.
“The role of the Sapphic Party is to provide a safe space for individuals to connect with their Queer identity. There are not a lot of spaces that are exclusive to the Sapphic experience,” shared Peek.
They wanted a space where Sapphics could have fun, gather, dance, and listen to music. They emphasized that this is the first time for a lot of people that they confront their Queer identity, and it brings them a lot of joy to create a monumental space.
“It’s their first gay kiss. It’s where they meet their first girlfriend,” Peek said enthusiastically.
One of the major rules in the space is that there are no cis men allowed, a rule that has led to backlash from cis men. Peek explained these men may feel that they are being excluded, but cis men have so many other spaces that are welcoming of them, it’s important to focus on safe spaces for those who lack them.
With joy and freedom fueling the atmosphere at Sapphic Party in the numerous stops it does throughout the state, such as in Tallahassee, Gainesville, and Orlando, the need has increased, but Peek has found it a challenge to fund the project. They fund the Sapphic Party themselves through party gigs to ensure the deposit is made for the venue, sound, bartenders, security, and others who provide services in the space.
As a Black party organizer, Peek stated that the Sapphic party, at its core, is an inclusive space for Black people because it is run by individuals who carry those identities, a big deal as there are so many people in the LGBTQ+ community, including myself, who navigate the intersections of being Black and Queer.
“Throwing it and seeing other Black, Queer individuals come out and have fun as well is a grand time—because it’s really hard for our community,” shared Peek.
With joy and freedom fueling the atmosphere at Sapphic Party in the numerous stops it does throughout the state, such as in Tallahassee, Gainesville, and Orlando, the need has increased and they want to expand to other places, but Peek has found it a challenge to fund the project. They fund the Sapphic Party themselves through party gigs to ensure the deposit is made for the venue, sound, bartenders, security, and others who provide services in the space.
Les Vixens
When Ivy Les Vixens first came out and became involved in the LGBTQ night scene, the leading entertainment she noticed was drag queens. Although she loved these performances, she saw there weren’t specific performances for Queer women. When more events catering to women popped up, she auditioned for a troupe as a dancer and was hired.
In three months, Ivy’s career took off. She started her own troupe, Les Vixens, and performed in five cities throughout Florida.
“It wasn’t something I anticipated doing as a career. It wasn’t something I anticipated being bigger. I just thought I would be the fem go-go dancer at the gay bar,” she said.
Southern Nights, an LGBT bar in Orlando, hosted Lady or Lesbian Nights on Saturdays for Queer women to gather. The night initially had drag queens as entertainment. The Les Vixens troupe took over Saturdays, keeping the drag element with a drag queen host and the troupe’s show. Ivy still felt that drag was centered rather than Queer women.
“I love drag. I love the art form. But we wanted something for women, especially on a lesbian night. It very much ran through a gay male perspective of what lesbians would want,” Ivy explained.
She shared that the marketing for the night was stock photography of a straight girl at a club and the use of terms like “Seduction Saturday.” Ivy began to distance her troupe from Southern Nights, until she met a DJ who shared her vision.
Together, they began to market their Lesbian Night as Girl the Party. The marketing reflected real lesbians and queer women by hiring a photographer who would take photos of them enjoying their lives. There was no more drag queen host, with Ivy as the host and the Les Vixens troupe as the performers.
“Even though we were given the space, we still had to reclaim the space to make it actually what women want. I really wanted Queer performers for Queer women. I didn’t want to have straight girls dancing who didn’t care about the community,” shared Ivy.
Girl the Party isn’t the only place the Les Vixens perform. They have residencies in Gainesville and Jacksonville and attend pop-up events to give queer women a space by queer women.
One of those events includes Girls in Wonderland, a week-long event curated by Pandora Events, a Sapphic women’s event company based in South Florida. Modeled off of Gay Days, a men-loving men week-long event in Disney, Pandora created Girls in Wonderland to provide a fun and safe space for lesbians and Sapphics, too.
Ivy wants more weekends for Queer women to come together and celebrate, as she knows that there are fewer spaces for Queer women to congregate and many places are shutting down.
“There is still the stigma that lesbians don’t spend money, which is untrue,” she said, mentioning the rising costs of maintaining venues, especially with inflation.
Keeping a weekly women’s-only space has also been a challenge.
“I know our party is so great and everyone wants to go. We love that. But this is still a night for queer women, and it’s still catered to them,” she said. “When I’m on the mic, I talk about that all the time. If there are dudes in the front row, I tell them to move back and let the girls come to the front. We make sure to have female security guards on stage. The music is catered to women. The performers are queer women.”
With a large slate of anti-LGBTQ laws in Florida, many critics argued that popular events such as Girls in Wonderland, Gay Days, and others should be celebrated in more queer-affirming states. Travel advisories issued by Equality Florida and NAACP strengthen this valid fear.
Ivy recognizes this fear, as many Transgender and Queer people fled the state to more progressive states in the Northeast and Midwest. She believes that they need to do the best for them to ensure their safety and livelihoods. However, she believes in fighting back against the recent bigotry pushed by lawmakers as they are fearful of the LGBTQ+ community’s power.
“The state is so full of beautiful, Queer people living their best lives here in the Sunshine State. That’s why they’re so afraid of us. They’re trying to control so many things because we’re so powerful,” she said.
Ivy believes that by leaving, it is letting bigots win and silencing Queer people. “I will die on the hill that I have to live authentically,” she said. “I have to live out and proud. I found that the louder I am about it and the prouder I am about it, the more likely they are to leave me alone. Most bullies cannot face a strong, powerful person.”
Although the road to defending against rights is exhausting, through litigation and the courts, many of the anti-LGBTQ laws passed were limited or overturned. Ivy knows that Girl the Party plays a role in uplifting the lives of Sapphics and Queer people with its representation and visibility. The space creates memories for those who may have never seen happy Queer people.
“You leave Saturday Night or Sunday. You feel a little bit better about yourself. You feel a little bit better about your identity. You feel a little bit like, ‘Oh my god! I made out with a hot girl last night!’ you feel a little more normal. That helps you on Monday when you’re in your office and you don’t feel fully yourself or with your family. It creates a better sense of yourself.” Ivy said.
Every day, Ivy receives DMs to Girl the Party and personally, with thank yous and gratitude for the creation of a Sapphic Space. People share how they came out to their family or met their first girlfriend.
As for the future, Girl the Party and Les Vixens will continue staying relevant with what Queer women and Sapphics want, including their Pinky Pony Club, Brat, and Cruel Summer nights. They want to bring the Party to other cities and states and they want more events outside of the Nightclub sphere tailoring to markets, books, and coffee shops.