An Aug. 10 session at the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce conference featured Russell Roybal, deputy executive director of external relations at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and Rhett Buttle, national outreach and government affairs at the Small Business Majority. NGLCC Senior Policy Fellow Simon McNorton moderated.
The talk, "Public Policy: Small Business and the Sate of the LGBT Movement," began with an explanation of how the Affordable Care Act affects small businesses.
Roybal discussed small policy changes that impact LGBT people. Roybal said that the Obama administration was using sexual discrimination language to help transgender, genderqueer and others who face discrimination in healthcare settings. Additionally, he explained that domestic partners now can visit each other if hospitalized as long as they have prepared healthcare power of attorney to their domestic partner. Roybal also noted the need for census data collection regarding sexual orientation and gender identity.
One of the main questions that arose during the panel was about freedom of speech within business communities. One attendee asked about how his own political affiliations may reflect on his leadership role in business. Buttle said, "Make it about the policy, not about the person," meaning that if he can justify his political beliefs for the sake of business, it looks better than strictly affiliating with a party or a person.
Another attendee asked how to navigate free-speech issues as a business owner. Roybal referred to the Chick-fil-A controversy and said that one should look at what a company does, like donate money to a campaign, in addition to what the corporate officials say publicly.
Another point in the conversation was if LGBT small businesses can file to be a disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE). Technically, LGBT businesses do not qualify as DBEs; however, many LGBT businesses are women-owned, veteran-owned, minority-owned, etc., which allows those businesses to be considered DBEs if they have applied.