HOPE Community

05/20/2026

🏳️‍🌈 It only takes 30 seconds. Support Local

Please nominate Tampa Bay Gay for:
✨ Best LGBTQ Owned Business (direct link below)

And Dave Borman for:
✨ Best Journalist That Doesn’t Work at Creative Loafing

You can nominate DAILY through June 10!
Link to Nominate - https://vote.cltampa.com/places/best-lgbtq-owned-business

05/20/2026

🌈 Join Us for 2026 Gulfport Pride! 🎉 Celebrate LGBTQ pride, community, and people power with us in Gulfport. Whether you volunteer to stop by to say hello, we'd love to see you there as we come together to build a safer, more inclusive Florida for all!

📅 Date: Saturday, June 6th, 2026
🕒 Time: Volunteer shifts at 11:30am-2:30pm, 2:30pm-5:30pm, 5:30pm-6:30pm
📍 Location: Shore Blvd S, Gulfport, FL 33707 [Exact location to be shared once registered]

Sign up now to volunteer: https://www.mobilize.us/equalityflorida/event/935508/

05/20/2026

Fancy a little karaoke tonight?

05/20/2026

Save the date!
Applications are open!

The SPLF 2027 website is officially updated, live, and ready for you.

That’s right. The gears are turning. The spreadsheets are multiplying. Levi has opened approximately 47 browser tabs. South Plains season has begun.

A huge number of applications and information pages are now updated for 2027, including:

• Event Schedule:
https://southplainsleatherfest.com/Schedule.html

• Presenter Applications:
https://southplainsleatherfest.com/Education.html

• Round Table Discussion Host Applications:
https://southplainsleatherfest.com/Education.html

• Special Events:
https://southplainsleatherfest.com/SpecialEvents.html

• Performer Applications:
https://southplainsleatherfest.com/entertainment.html

• Artist / Activist / Author Table Applications:
https://southplainsleatherfest.com/SpecialEvents.html

• Entertainment Information (spoiler alert… we’re excited):
https://southplainsleatherfest.com/entertainment.html

• Hospitality Party Applications:
https://southplainsleatherfest.com/hospitality.html

• Applications to Host a Cruise:
https://southplainsleatherfest.com/Cruises.html

• Bootblack Applications:
https://southplainsleatherfest.com/bootblack.html

• Vendor Applications:
https://southplainsleatherfest.com/Vendors.html

• Sponsorship Information & Applications:
https://southplainsleatherfest.com/Sponsors.html

In other words…if you’ve been waiting to start planning your SPLF 2027 experience, now is the time.

What is NOT open yet:
• Registration
• Hotel Reservations
• Volunteer Applications

Those will all open later this summer once final logistics are complete and we are ready to roll everything out together.

As always, registered attendees will receive the hotel booking information after registration opens.

We are incredibly excited about what we are building for 2027 and cannot wait to begin sharing more details, announcements, classes, entertainment, contests, and surprises with all of you in the months ahead.

South Plains Leatherfest
March 18-21, 2027

Questions? Email us at: [email protected]
More info at: www.SouthPlainsLeatherfest.com

05/20/2026

We see you
You have our deepest condolences ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

It is with profound grief that we share the loss of our beloved Tugger, one of our founding members, who was taken from us suddenly.

Tugger was the second pup to ever join this pack. From the very beginning, he helped make this community what it is, not through grand gestures, but through his endless warmth, his kindness, and the kind of upbeat spirit that made everyone around him feel at home.

We are heartbroken. His family, his husband, and everyone who knew him are in our hearts

If you knew Tugger, here or anywhere, we'd love for you to share a memory below. He deserves to be remembered loudly.

05/20/2026

May 16, 2026, Edmund Pettus Bridge (Selma, Alabama) voting‑rights advocates, faith leaders and activists from across the U.S. marched to oppose redistricting efforts in Republican‑controlled Southern states. This call to action was prompted by the U.S. Supreme Court’s April 29, 2026 decision which weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, thereby prompting Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia and Tennessee to redraw or consider new congressional district maps.

PAY ATTENTION! The government is legally taking voting rights away, wiping out or severely limiting the representation of marginalized people.

61 years after Bloody Sunday at the very same Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, people are still fighting for the same rights.

IF THIS DOESN'T SCARE YOU, THEN YOU AREN'T PAYING ATTENTION!

* https://www.npr.org/2025/03/09/nx-s1-5312032/selma-bloody-sunday-60-years-edmund-pettus-bridge
* https://msmagazine.com/2026/05/19/south-alabama-voting-rights-redistricting-gerrymandering-supreme-court-louisiana-v-callais/

05/20/2026

Today is Agender Pride Day!

Agender Pride Day is celebrated annually on May 19th to recognize individuals who identify as genderless, neutral, or having no gender. In 2026, this day falls on Tuesday, May 19, focusing on raising awareness of agender identity, reducing stigma, and celebrating the diversity of the community, often represented by a black, white, and green flag.

The day provides visibility for agender people, who may feel pressured to conform to binary gender roles. It serves as a reminder that they are seen, valid, and supported.

While specific origins are not widely reported, online communities have celebrated it on this date since at least the mid-2000s.

Agender people may use various pronouns (they/them, he/him, she/her, or neopronouns) and may or may not identify under the trans and non-binary umbrellas.

Common ways to observe the day include educating oneself on gender diversity, amplifying agender voices on social media, using inclusive language, and supporting agender creators

(See: https://diva-magazine.com/2025/05/19/what-is-agender-pride-day/)

05/20/2026

Vendor season is upon us it seems!

🎉 MARKETPLACE MAKERS + VENDORS — APPLICATIONS ARE OPEN! 🎉

We are NOW accepting vendors for the 2nd Annual Love & Liberation: A Boldly Unapologetic Juneteenth Pride Celebration 🌈✊🏾🖤✨

Join us on Saturday, June 20, 2026 at the Central Florida Fairgrounds Pavilion for Florida’s largest Juneteenth Pride celebration — and the ONLY event of its kind in the entire state of Florida.

Last year, we welcomed 500+ guests for our inaugural celebration — and this year, we’re building something even bigger, louder, and more powerful in community.

🛍️ Vendor Marketplace Fee: ONLY $20

Please note: Small, local businesses owned and operated by q***r, women, Black, and other marginalized entrepreneurs will be prioritized.

This is more than a marketplace — it’s a space for liberation, culture, joy, resistance, and community care. ❤️🖤💚

⏳ Applications are closing soon — don’t wait!

👉🏾 Apply here: https://www.eventeny.com/events/love-liberation-a-boldly-unapologetic-juneteenth-pride-celebration-29080

Come show up, show out, and build liberation with us. 🌈✨