The GLBT Community Moves Into the New Millennium

People often have great ideas. But many of these good ideas tend to stay just ideas with no action. They make good topics of conversation around drinks at the Blue Moon or Cloud Nine or become great discussions at the dinner table. However, I am pleased to report that one such great idea, that had its birth in a number of fertile minds over the past decade, has just moved beyond the idea stage into the action phase. It is an idea that will help the GLBT community come into its own in the 21^st century.

The National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) has opened its doors. With the arrival of the new organization we will finally be able to tout the value of gay and lesbian owned business contributions to the nations economy as these businesses can now come out of the closet and grow with the support of a national organization. Just as the new Rehoboth Gay and Lesbian Business League has started up, NGLCC will encourage these groups to form in cities and towns across the nation.

This is an exciting time for our community. As was recently reported in the Washington Blade, many of our venerable organizations are finding leadership in the younger generation and that can only be good. But it is also a difficult time for business in general and for many small GLBT businesses, it’s a struggle just to survive. The NGLCC will be great for those businesses, the mom and mom carpentry shop or the pop and pop flower stall (I know I’m using stereotypes), and for all those who own businesses of every ilk, large or small. We know that our community has a great impact on the nation’s economy and we will now finally be able to demand to be heard and dealt with fairly on that basis.

Of the first four programs announced by the organization, one is a Diversity Development and Procurement Program. This involves working out arrangements with companies like IBM to ensure that these companies will be procuring supplies from gay and lesbian owned businesses in much the same way that they now target purchases from minority and women owned businesses. In addition to IBM, I understand they are already talking to Motorola. The NGLCC will be working out the system by which they will be the bridge between these major corporations and the GLBT owned businesses. They will certify that a business is majority GLBT owned for purposes of procurement contracts. I envision in the future that they will be the conduit for cities and states as well, that want to ensure that they are working with and buying from our community. The time has come for us to move beyond the platitudes where politicians and others say we like you and want you to like us, to dealing with some hard cash.

The second of the programs they are getting of the ground will be a partnership with financial institutions that will be designed to give NGLCC members access to needed capital to start or grow their business.

The other two programs include a general membership initiative that will provide everything from business and service discounts to members, to regional conferences and a quarterly magazine. And a Workplace Diversity and Opportunity Initiative, that is dedicated to ridding the workplace of discrimination based on sexual orientation. This initiative will take on issues such as the corporation that has domestic partnership benefits but doesn’t insist that they are available in all states in which they do business. For example you may work for corporation X in California and get partnership health care benefits, but if you are transferred to the companies office in Texas, you may be denied them.

As the Chamber gets off the ground and its programs become more widely known, we will finally have a voice for the GLBT community based not only on a plea for civil and human rights based on equality and decency, but a voice that will demand them based on what we contribute to the economy. We live in a world where money talks. We will show the world that we are major producers of goods and services, not just consumers.