POLITICS
House Committee Advances LGBTQ Small Biz Bill
Ritchie Torres leads effort to collect data on loans to queer-owned businesses
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
A committee in the House of Representatives
has advanced a bill requiring
the collection of data on small business
loans given to LGBTQ-owned
businesses.
The LGBTQ Business Equal Credit Enforcement
and Investment Act, or HR 1443, led by
out gay Bronx Congressmember Ritchie Torres,
would amend the Equality Credit Opportunity
Act (ECOA) — which bans discrimination in credit
— to require that “LGBTQ-owned” businesses
be included next to “minority-owned” businesses
whenever mentioned in the ECOA. It would also
require “sexual orientation and gender identity”
to be mentioned after “sex” in the ECOA.
“In the United States, there are 1.4 million
LGBTQ businesses contributing more than 1.7
trillion dollars to the American economy,” Torres
said. “We have a vested interest in sustaining
and strengthening these businesses with
equal access to credit, which is the beating
heart of the American economy.”
He added, “HR 1443 would make credit more
accessible, credit laws more enforceable, and
creditors more accountable. It would represent
a triumph of transparency in the service of economic
opportunity for all, regardless of who you
are and whom you love.”
The legislation’s passage in the Financial
Services Committee comes two months after
the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
announced that the Equality Credit Opportunity
Act’s ban on sex discrimination would
be interpreted to encompass sexual orientation
and gender identity. That change, which
also includes discrimination based on perceived
non-conformity with traditional sex- or
gender-based stereotypes, came in response
to the Supreme Court’s Bostock decision last
year.
Torres’ bill, fi rst introduced in February, still
needs to receive a full vote in the House of Representatives.
According to the bill’s text, an LGBTQowned
business is defi ned as an establishment
where more than half of the ownership
or control is held by one or more people that
Congressmember Ritchie Torres’ legislation follows up on his work in the City Council to boost LGBTQ-owned small businesses.
identify as LGBTQ. The text states that this
bill also extends to businesses where “more
than 50 percent of the net profi t or loss of
which accrues to 1 or more individuals selfidentifying
as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
or queer.”
The bill’s co-sponsors include out LGBTQ
lawmakers David Cicilline of Rhode Island,
Mondaire Jones of Rockland County and Northern
Westchester, and Sharice Davids of Kansas,
along with several New York-based representatives
including Jerrold Nadler, Carolyn Maloney,
and Nydia Velazquez. A previous version of
NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL/ JEFF REED
the legislation was proposed in 2019 by former
Representative Harley Rouda of California.
Two years ago, Torres, a former City Councilmember
in the Bronx, pitched similar legislation
requiring New York City’s Department
of Small Business Services to certify LGBTQowned
businesses and publish a directory of
those businesses.
In January, the Department of Small Business
Services announced that queer-owned
small enterprisess would begin receiving access
to city contracts, educational programs,
and other benefi ts.
➤ DECRIM, from p.14
port the squad’s elimination. In that same questionnaire,
McGuire did not give a direct answer to
that question but said “vice has shown to be in
need of such a review.” McGuire also did not directly
respond to the question from Jim Owles about
his position on the decriminalization of sex work.
Yang and McGuire have not landed any endorsements
from LGBTQ political clubs in the
city, though Yang drew criticism from the LGBTQ
community last month when he made awkward
comments during the Stonewall Democratic
Club of New York City’s mayoral forum. Yang
name-dropped his out gay campaign manager,
Chris Coffey, along with Brooklyn Councilmember
Carlos Menchaca, before saying the queer
community is “so human and so beautiful.”
He further stated that the LGBTQ community
has a “secret weapon” within the Democratic
Party and wondered aloud why Democrats
ever lose elections “given that you all are
frankly in leadership roles all over the Democratic
party.”
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