The founders were inspired to create this social club in response to desires for a stronger/larger Black lesbian community. Elysia and Tajh decided to incorporate their own love for arts and crafts with the creation of a space dedicated to Black lesbians outside of the club/party scene. Seeing how underrepresented Black lesbians are in society, it was further decided that this arts and crafts project should contribute to some form of documentation of Black lesbian lives and highlighting the beauty of said identity. 

Although LLA recognizes the importance of inter-dependency amongst identities, the main focus is cultivating community across people with the shared identity and experiences as Black lesbians. LLA acknowledges that labels and relationship to Blackness and Lesbianism may vary across one’s lifetime (re: Blackness, this is specifically relating to how multi-racial people relate to their label as “Black”) and does not intend to dictate how one identifies, especially given the long history of gender nonconformity/queerness within Lesbianism. For this reason, LLA as an organization and by extension its founders will not explicitly state/determine whether one is “eligible” to come to meetings or produce artwork for the collective projects, but rather asks that members use their best judgement to consider whether (or to what extent) they align with the label of “Black lesbian” in deciding their level of participation. No one will be turned away from a meeting or have their work rejected as a result of being potentially perceived/treated as “not Black enough” / “not Lesbian enough.” However, it is requested that out of respect for the role this organization plays in the larger queer community (where Black lesbains are significantly underrepresented) that people make space for Black lesbians to convene independently and seek comfort/community in one another. Non-black and Non-lesbian individuals are encouraged to support this organization as allies and observers.