LGBTQ Business: A Chat with Jim Smith

In 1992, the Colorado LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce was formed as the Colorado Business Council in response to Amendment 2, which constitutionally defined marriage in Colorado as a union between a man and woman. Creating a nickname for Colorado, the “Hate State,” the amendment was later ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, the message it sent at the time was loud and clear: people did not want equality for all. The Colorado Business Council officially “came out of the closet” in 2002, when they changed their name to the Denver Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. In 2017, they eventually became the Colorado LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce. Creating a space for business-minded people to interact with each other while being their true and authentic selves, this nonprofit’s mission is to champion the success and economic impact of the LGBTQ business community by promoting, connecting, and advancing common interests. LGBTQ businesses make up 1.3 trillion dollars of the U.S. economy, so it’s very important to the business world that these voices be heard. There are now several LGBTQ Chambers of Commerce throughout the country, and they have made a significant impact. OUT FRONT spoke with Jim Smith, chairperson for the Colorado LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce, about his role, why these chambers are beneficial, and how they are personally helping Colorado’s LGBTQ businesses overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. Hi, Jim! Thank you for taking the time to chat with me more about the Colorado LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce. How long have you been the Chamber’s chairperson, and can you talk more about your role? I have been the chairperson since August 2017. Prior to that, I was co-chair for a few years, and this year marks my ninth year of serving on the board of directors. As chair, I lead a board of volunteers and one staff person to continue to meet the organization’s mission and vision statements. While we are nonprofit, I view the organization like any other business. We have a variety of clients that we need to always bring value and benefit to; we have to continuously market and advertise our services; we must keep abreast of current events and trends to stay viable, and we have to adapt to the ever-changing political and economic environment our members face.

Related article: Supreme Court Bars LGBTQ Discrimination in the Workplace  Why did you initially want to get involved with the Colorado LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce? When I moved to Denver from the Western Slope, I knew I wanted to continue being a volunteer with some of my time. I wanted to be active in the LGBTQ+ community and have always been business-minded. I was very active with the Chamber in Grand Junction, and being active with the Chamber in Denver seemed like a perfect fit for all of those. Why is an LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce so beneficial? The Chamber is so important to the LGBTQ+ community for bringing a perspective to a community that is often overlooked or ignored. We have never been able to be counted as a community. Even the census doesn’t let us raise our hand to be counted. As such, there are resources about starting, running, and growing businesses. But, these resources lack having any type of understanding that being LGBTQ+ adds to this venture. Do I come out as a business owner? Does it matter? How do I bring my authentic self to the table each day? Will my business thrive or suffer if I do bring my true self? How do we encourage businesses to become more diverse and accepting of the LGBTQ+ employee in the workplace? The Chamber provides an outlet for employees or business owners to be with others in their community dealing with the same issues. They become friends, mentors, business partners. We also bring a voice to the local and state governments. The LGBTQ+ community is fiercely loyal, and we provide a directory of businesses for people to look up LGBTQ-owned or -friendly businesses. Businesses that are more than 50 percent LGBTQ-owned can receive LGBTBE Certification. Much like a minority-, women-, or veteran-owned business, this certification can help LGBTQ+ business owners get to the negotiating table to win contracts with other businesses that value diversity in their supply chain. COVID-19 has impacted many businesses. What are you doing to help them stay afloat? The COVID-19 pandemic really highlighted our mission and vision statement and the need to help our members any way we can. We spent a lot of time learning about the various programs available for businesses and employees impacted. We coordinated Zoom meetings with leaders of the Small Business Administration (SBA), Office of Economic Development, Small Business Majority, and other organizations.

Related article: Can Queer Businesses Survive the Coronavirus?  Resources and information changed daily at the beginning, and it was very difficult to stay on top of it while also trying to keep a business safe and open. We helped sort the information and get it out to our members. We quickly learned to adapt to a virtual world and continued having networking opportunities for our members via Zoom. It was vital we engaged with our members, and we continue to keep promoting them. Few organizations know the people of their community like chambers do, and it is unfortunate that chambers were not given any stimulus funding to help their members through such strenuous times. This pandemic was not predictable, and we have never experienced anything of its like. A lot of lessons were gleaned, and while I hope we never have to experience this type of economic hardship again, I think we are all in a better place to help navigate any future occurrences. What are some future goals the Chamber would like to achieve? When I took over as chairperson in 2017, I envisioned being a voice of the LGBTQ business community across the state. In 2018, we formed our first chapter outside of the Denver metro area. In May 2018, the Boulder County chapter was created and today has over 40 members. We are actively working to create other chapters in Fort Collins and Colorado Springs with additional chapters in the future along the Colorado River mountain valleys and Western Slope. We are more actively engaging with state legislators to impact legislation to be business- and LGBTQ+ -friendly, and we are creating more programming to connect our large and small businesses. How can one get involved? I encourage people to become members of the Chamber. We have memberships for all levels of engagement. Membership with a chamber is similar to that of a gym. You get out of it what you put into it. Those that are active and reach out to affiliate businesses to make strong connections are the ones that benefit the most. Membership is more than that, though. The funds we receive through membership dues go to help us continue being the LGBTQ business voice in Colorado; they help us support other amazing organizations in the LGBTQ+ space and help us develop programs to help start, maintain, and grow businesses throughout Colorado. For more information, visit colgbtqcc.org.