Sapphic Storytellers Creates a Safe Space for a Silenced Community

An open microphone beckons. It’s late Sunday afternoon at the Dallas Asian American Historical Society, and in a larger room of the complex, a gaggle of gays gathers. They begin chattering, exchanging ideas for poems. In a few short moments, leadership will thank the attendants and welcome them to Sapphic Open Mic Night, a recurring event for LGBTQ+ creatives attracted to women.

For the next few hours, sapphic-identifying people (sapphic is an umbrella term for any non-cisgender men attracted to women: all lesbians are sapphic, but not all sapphics are lesbians) will be performing poetry, musical performances, comedy routines and other public forms of artistic expression. As long as you’re part of the sapphic community, you’re free to express yourself however you like. The group is devoted to keeping queer artistic expression alive in a challenging environment for LGBTQ+ voices.

Sapphic Storytellers, at its core, is an independent group founded by three queer sapphics that hosts alternating biweekly events. Those events oscillate between writing workshop sessions and open-mic performances. Artistry and creative expression are the primary focus of this group, which provides reliable social experiences for the North Texas sapphic community.

Preethi Jayaraman, one of those founders, has a deep passion for creating and absorbing art.

“I was introduced to the world of spoken-word and open mics during my undergrad, where I explored mics across Philadelphia, New York and Cape Town,” Jayaraman says. “In these spaces, I challenged myself to be vulnerable and share the writing that I had scribbled in journals and poured into my notes app. When I came back to Dallas, I was craving a safe and inviting space to write and perform as a brown nonbinary lesbian in the South.”

That space didn’t exist, but for Jayaraman, that was just a challenge to create something new.

“Through meeting my cofounders, who shared much of the same background and zeal for writing and performing, I knew together we could co-create this sapphic creative utopia smack dab in the middle of Texas,” they say.

The importance of dedicated safe spaces has increased during the second term of President Donald Trump, who has further emboldened state governments to amplify anti-queer legislation and threaten funding unless cities comply with anti-LGBTQ+ initiatives. Thus, queer artistry and self-expression live on in arduous times through spaces like the Sapphic Storytellers events.

“I think the artistic world has become all the more fervent and hungrier since the rise of the new administration,” Jayaraman says. “Art becomes all the more palpable and necessary in the face of political extremity and public uncertainty. We write and perform and make art to remind each other of our shared humanity.”

Sapphics Want a Safe Space, and It Needs To be Big

Jayaraman says the demand for events like theirs is underratedly great in Dallas.

“Dallas is an incredibly slept-on scene for artists,” they say. “Once you meet one or two creatives, you get pulled into this whole new world. I’ve met more actors, singers, writers, animators, painters, potters, crafters in Dallas than I have in any other city.”

For Sapphic Storytellers cofounder Jae Payne, the Texas backdrop can be fulfilling despite the immense political challenges.

“Something [about] living in Texas that specifically excites me as an artist is the connections I have made with my peers in the creative community,” Payne says. “I am all about collaborations and going into projects that are interesting in an exciting way, and I have met so many people who are on the same wavelength as me when it comes to creating. … I also feel heard and that I don’t have to work 10 times harder to take up space in the creative rooms that I am in, because we all get it and we all want people to feel included for the right reasons.”

For Payne’s part, they wish they could impart that reality to a much younger version of themselves.

“I would tell my younger self that it’s OK to want more than what you are given,” Payne says. “There are people out there who get just as excited, if not more excited, to do the things that you want to do, too. You are not alone, and the right community is going to find you.”

The cofounders of the Sapphic Storyteller events knew their community needed a safe space, but they did not anticipate just how much value it would hold.

“We had so many people come through, attend, and perform,” the third cofounder, Angel Ohome, says about the first event. “My co-host and I were blown away by the number of people who came. I think it just goes to show the kind of spaces people are craving.”

The group has its eyes set on June, planning new events beyond writers workshops and open mic nights for an especially loud Pride Month. Until then, the mic is live and waiting for the next story to be told.

 “Keep telling stories, and you’ll never be alone,” says Jayaraman.

More information on Sapphic Storytellers and its upcoming events can be found on its official Instagram page.