(Photo courtesy of Soul Haux Collective)
ORLANDO | Soul Haux Collective will be celebrating two years of operation on Nov. 13 at Anthem Orlando, starting at 7 p.m.
The Sinners-themed event, Sapphic Sinners, will have lesbian trivia, a happy hour, shows and a final celebration to end the night.
Soul Haux Collective began in 2024, intending to create a space highlighting black and brown indigenous lesbians and creatives, including performers, DJs and content creators. Events are designed to be a safe space for lesbians, trans women and queer women community members.
“A lot of the experiences in the lesbian world and just the club scene are very gay male-dominant, and so I wanted to create a space where it was safe for lesbians to come and see not just men dominate the dance floor,” Natalia Soler, owner and operator of Soul Haux, says. “Somewhere they could find other lesbians and other queer women and other trans women, as well as just to feel safe.”
Soler has participated in local LGBTQ+ spaces for the past 12 years. In 2024, she created Girl Crush Wednesday, taking place at Savoy. The events started as a place to increase representation of different types of women in the LGBTQ+ community, but relocated to align more with Soul’s ideals.
“It feels amazing that I am able to even see online all these other lesbian and sapphic events that are popping up and are starting and are doing amazing. I think that was the goal,” Soler says. “The goal was to create something different and let people know that this was a possibility that they have the power to do, and now I see so many amazing events happening that it makes me so happy to know that there are more options for folks.”
Soul Haux is not just a nighttime space; rather, Soler wants to create a new genre of lesbian-focused spaces that don’t rely on party scenes.
“The goal is to open up a nonprofit. In doing all these events, I’ve noticed a lot of growth, but there’s also a lot of opportunity for different ways of nightlife and entertainment and events. I want to create a way for folks who want to show up to an event but don’t necessarily have to go and drink,” Soler says. “Maybe they don’t want to be out and about so late, or maybe they have weird experiences going out to the clubs or experienced going out and seeing something or somebody that might have been triggering. I feel like even though these events are fun and all, there is a part of mental health that I want to incorporate into that as well.”
The theme for the celebration, Sinners, has a personal touch for Soler. Soler joked about how lesbians love vampires, but the thematics go deeper than that. “The majority of the collective members and black and brown indigenous people of color,” Soler says. “Sinners is one of my favorite movies, and as a musician, I loved it. I play guitar; I play instruments, so I thought it was just something really cool that we can incorporate.”
Free entry is offered before 9 p.m. for Happy Hour, and Lesbian Trivia is $5 if you arrive after 9 p.m. Tickets for Sapphic Sinners drag and burlesque, starting at 10 p.m., are $10 in advance and $12 at the door after 10 p.m.
For more information on Soul Haux’s Sapphic Sinners event, visit soulhauxcollective on Instagram.
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