#ConDRAGulations!: Nashville Just Became the First Southern City in the U.S. to Recognize LGBTQ-Owned Businesses

The mayor of Nashville, David Briley’s, signed an executive order will see LGBTQ-run businesses as a recognized category. Briley said, it will

“reflect the diversity of Nashville in its hiring practices, contracting and economic development opportunities through the delivery of equitable programs, services and policies.”

This makes Nashville the first city in South to recognize LGBTQ-owned businesses in this way.

The order allows businesses to identify as being LGBTQ-owned during the procurment process, and allows companies to be recognized with LGBTQ business enterprise certification from the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce.

Briley said in a statement.

“It’s my job as mayor to make sure that everyone in our city, regardless of who they are or where they come from, has equal access to economic opportunities.

Today, we’ve taken an important step towards better equity for LGBT-owned businesses in Nashville. I am proud to sign this executive order and look forward to seeing these Nashville businesses flourish.“

John Lovitz, senior vice president of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, praised the move,

“The best functioning cities are the ones that treat themselves like a business that is in the business of doing what’s best for its people,. Nashville is just replicating the best practices of those large corporations around the region. Supplier diversity brings the best and the brightest to the table.

Not only are you the first city in the South, you’re beating major places like New York, Atlanta, Orlando, and Los Angeles, where you would have thought LGBT businesses would be included years ago.“

This comes when Republican lawmakers in the state just reintroduced the Natural Marriage Defense Act, stating that the 2015 US Supreme Court ruling which legalized same-sex marriage is null and void in Tennessee.

The bill has failed to pass twice before, in ’16 and ’17 and officials estimate it could cost the state over $9 billion in federal funding.

As of today, Nashville is the first city in the South to include #LGBT-owned businesses as a recognized category for Metro procurement. This executive order reaffirms the fact that no matter who you love or how you identify, Nashville is a welcoming place to live and do business. pic.twitter.com/AnDqpcfpRc

— Mayor David Briley (@MayorBriley) February 11, 2019