BUSINESS
Push to Certify LGBT-Owned Businesses Gets Messy
Misconceptions emerge over potential future set-aside funds; Council speaker tepid on idea
BY MATT TRACY
Out gay Bronx City Councilmember
Ritchie Torres
remains confi dent
that his bill authorizing
the city to certify LGBTQ small
business owners will get a hearing
by next year, despite concerns
raised about possible misinformation
regarding the measure and
separate questions raised by out
gay Speaker Corey Johnson about
what authority the city has, under
state law, to do anything to help
such businesses beyond simply
certifying them.
It has been more than eight
months since the sunny morning
in late February when Torres introduced
the bill, which would require
the Department of Small Business
Services to certify LGBTQ-owned
businesses, publish a directory of
those businesses, and offer business
Out gay Bronx City Councilmember Ritchie Torres wants his bill authorizing the city to certify LGBTQ
small business owners to get a hearing by early next year.
owners education and other
resources. The idea for such a bill,
Torres said, originated during
Pride season in June of 2018 when
National Chamber of Commerce
senior vice president Jonathan Lovitz
pressed him on the need for a
BY MATT TRACY
certifi cation program for LGBTQowned
small businesses.
The city has long maintained
a program for women-owned and
minority-owned business enterprises
(MWBE), which entails enhanced
access to city contracts and
is backed up by disparity studies
proving such initiatives are necessary
to even the playing fi eld. Torres’
bill does not call for any such
advantages in winning city contracts,
though the data gathered
through the registry could help
build a case for a disparity study
to be carried out in the future. Out
gay Councilmember Daniel Dromm
of Queens has proposed a complementary
bill that would require
that kind of disparity research.
It’s not as if Torres’ bill has no
support among elected offi cials in
the city. Out gay Councilmembers
Carlos Menchaca of Brooklyn and
Jimmy Van Bramer of Queens as
well as Dromm have signed on as
co-sponsors, as have Councilmembers
Diana Ayala of the Bronx and
Manhattan, Mark Levine of Manhattan,
and Justin Brannan of
➤ LGBTQ BUSINESSES continued on p.19
November 7 - November 20, 18 2019 | GayCityNews.com
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