How St. Petersburg’s new lesbian newspapers preserve queer florida history

st. Petersburg – A sparkly tablecloth covered in candles and lesbian magazines spreads over a long table in Kelly Dancemore’s Rosa Park Living Room. It was the summer of 2024, with a group of future writers, designers and illustrators gathering for their first brainstorming for a new queer publishing.

Dunsmore, 24, flipped through his PowerPoint presentation.

The project is beautiful, colorful and fun, leaning towards an old-fashioned print aesthetic with the heavy dash of Florida kitsch. Something physical, given to you at an event or visited by a door every month. Unlike fleeting online posts, this is not edited, deleted or deleted.

So, Tampa Bay’s monthly lesbian and queer newspaper, Sufficsan, was born.

The first issue was in October. And despite steadily growing on the list of LGBTQ+ Floridian obstacles since then, the Suffic sun has continued to blossom.

“Initially they wanted it to be more gin, very cute and just like ‘Tiger Beat’, but for lesbians. But as it is developed and gains more submission, we really want to focus on sharing the story of the community.” “Sometimes it’s a really fun article… But now there’s a lot of terrible things going on, so it can be a more serious story.

The page is packed with horoscopes and tarot tips. There are miserable date stories, recipes and anonymous secret pages. The monthly “Ask the Embankment” column explains sex.

Each issue also includes a deeper division into the major issues facing local strangers, such as trans civil rights and barriers to access to health care.

Rowan, 31, of St. Petersburg, said:

As a contributor writer, Rowan is a monthly sufficient glossary entry that defines popular terms in historical stories, advice columns, and queer spaces.

“The people who are coming out recently, especially those who have this mutilation between our current queer community and our history, have no real knowledge,” Rowan said. “People respond well to one article, especially particularly on Florida’s strange history, because I think there are a lot of people who have moved here in the last 10-15 years, not knowing what Gay St. Pete and Tampa Bay are like.”

The dating and intimacy work has been particularly well received and inspires future guides to safe sex practices.

“It’s really scary to see censorship increase. I think it will affect younger people in terms of not having knowledge but not having resources,” Rowan said. “We live in an age where there is a lot of pressure to become PG and present ourselves in a non-sexual way due to the association with, ‘Oh, if you’re gay or trans, that’s inappropriate.’ ”

Rowan draws inspiration from his home’s “Little Lesbian Library” and is full of fiction and non-fiction from queer writers around the state.

Lead graphic designer Alexis Stompson and lead printer Sararox lean on the nostalgic Florida aesthetic and draw inspiration from ephemera like vintage maps and guides. A lithographic printer used by Print St. Pete, a community letter press in Gulfport, brings out the paper with a vibrant illustration.

The idea for the story comes from a brainstorming session with Hawthorn Bottle Shop and reader tips. Sapphic Sun presents the theme for each month’s issue on Instagram and invites you to submit drawings, poetry or other creative content.

Unlike other queer publications around Florida, the project focuses primarily on the sufficient experience.

“Suffic is a vast term that includes lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, transfemium, non-binary folk, and CIS women,” reads the definition in the January 2025 issue.

“It’s meant to be read for our community and for our community,” said Dancemore, publisher, founder and creative director of the paper.

The question is $10 and will be delivered at the beginning of the month. St. Pete subscribers can choose to deliver or find copies at the local market. Anyone can read past newspaper questions for free at Gulfport Library and the Newsene Library in Creative Pinellas.

Sapphic Sun also mails out of state papers and has subscribers on both coasts.

With the landscape of strange people in Florida changing rapidly, Dancemore pointed out the importance of having an independent outlet to document life for people both in and out of the state.

“From my personal experience as a trans woman living in Florida, that’s not something that people think is,” said editor-in-chief Valerie Smith. “It’s a really beautiful place, a beautiful community, with government that makes you jump over the hoops.”

Smith, 23, explored the topic of saving his lesbian neighbors, up to Florida’s oldest gay bar during a hurricane. Her recent column is about the Pride Coalition of People and protests the corporateization of pride celebrations.

She already realizes the transformation of herself and the writer she is guiding.

“I’ve seen people who know that someone who never describes themselves as creative and doesn’t want to write about them will never reach out to us,” Smith said. “I quit my job and quit my career to help me pursue journalism as more and more full-time. Through this I found my passion.”

Sapphic Sun continues its long tradition of odd newsletters that act as a tool for connection and resistance.

“We also want to be part of that legacy and hope that one day, for those who need it, whether it’s now, 10 or 20 years, it’s a resource for the future,” Rowan said. “Our lives and our stories are important and I think they deserve to be documented.”

Learn more about Sapphic Sun

Sapphic Sun is released every month. To subscribe to the newspaper, visit sapphisunfl.com. Interested in questions, story ideas, or contributions? Please email info@sapphicsun.com. Follow @sapphisunfl on Instagram.

Sapphic Sun will be holding “Hestique: Art, Politics, Crossing” at the museum on Friday, July 25th from 6 to 9pm. The first article in a new series called “The Ins and Outs” focuses on the work of Nina Jankovitz, an artist who co-founded the feminist magazine “Heresies.” This 21 night will include cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, salon-style writing sessions and panel discussions. For tickets and more information, visit mfastpete.org/event.