Jonathan Lovitz, senior vice president of the NGLCC, also stressed the economic benefits of adding LGBTQ-owned businesses to the list of minority-owned businesses in Philadelphia.
In Philly, organizations partner to assist minority-owned businesses in applying for federal funding
“I think one of the most compelling arguments particularly to Mayor Kenny and the new commerce director is, when you have more diverse businesses competing for contracts, that creates the kinds of innovations that drive bid prices down,” he said. “What does that mean? More money left over at the end of the year in the public [arena] for everyone – for our schools, our police, our firefighters, our roads and bridges and most importantly, our economic development programs that lift every single person in Philadelphia up.”
The push to recognize LGBTQ businesses as minority-owned businesses began about five years ago when California’s public utilities sector added LGBTQ businesses to public procurement for the first time. But according to Lovitz, it wasn’t as simple as an executive order.
“The tricky part is, in the absence of something like full federal, 50-state protections for queer people, simply confessing that you’ve been discriminated against could ultimately lead to retaliation that hurts every future contracting opportunity,” Lovitz said. “So they worked with the NGLCC, our local affiliates in California, and we created this pilot program that added LGBT spend to public sector contracts in the utility segment, which is big construction and development projects, but also everything down to office [equipment].”
In the first year of the program, the number of California suppliers that became certified increased by 280 percent.
“Because of programs like this, our business-owner of the year last year is a trans woman-owned construction company that recently signed a $20 million build project,” Lovitz said. “I couldn’t have said that sentence five years ago.”
Wilcha and Lovitz debunked the misconception — which many opponents of the policy believe — that adding LGBTQ-owned businesses would dilute the resource pool for existing minority-owned businesses.
“It’s been proven time and time again across the country, thanks to the NGLCC and Jonathan’s work, that these minority certifications that are available are complementary to one another,” Wilcha said. “You’re also filling in the gaps for those folks that aren’t being protected right now. White trans men are not protected at all when it comes to economic contracts in any of these places that haven’t passed LGBT certification as one of the qualified characteristics for applying.”
Since California included LGBTQ-owned businesses as minority-owned, the policy gained momentum in other states, Lovitz said. Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker was the first to greenlight it state-wide. New York state, New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut and Colorado governments are in discussions about rolling it out.
“What we always talk about is a seat at the table for the community,” Lovitz said. “A lot of these programs say, ‘it’s always been open to everyone who’s socioeconomically disadvantaged.’ That might be true on paper, but if you want people to come to the table, you have to put their name on the placecards.”
LGBTQ business owners can get certified exclusively through the NGLCC certification process. IBA has resources to help navigate that process.
Michele Zipkin is a reporter for the Philadelphia Gay News, where this story first appeared.
