The Big Book of Queer Business Pt. 2 is Here! (The Balance Sheet: June 25, 2023)
In Part 2 of the Big Book of Queer Business we’re focusing on LGBTQ-owned service businesses, home goods brands, and books/bookstores.
In Part 2 of the Big Book of Queer Business we’re focusing on LGBTQ-owned service businesses, home goods brands, and books/bookstores.
This week I also spoke with Douglas Selph and Charles Hicks, Co-Chairs of a new LGBTQ Business Practice Group at international business law firm Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP. The two out Atlanta-based attorneys recently launched the first-of-its-kind Southeast business group in order to provide culturally conscious counsel to LGBTQ-owned companies as they scale their businesses.
“We're here to fill a historical void in access to capital as well as a knowledge gap that has existed with LGBTQ-owned and operated businesses in terms of raising money and scaling their businesses at a good rate,” Hicks told me.
Learn more about how MMM’s new practice group can benefit your business in the article below.
And I'd like to express my deepest gratitude to the 53 new Queerency monthly and annual supporters and more than 250 one-time donors who made a financial contribution to Queerency this week! Your support will help us grow and sustain this important work, and your touching words of encouragement let me know that our work is making a difference. I can't thank y'all enough.
If you find value in our work and haven't already, we would really appreciate you becoming a supporter or making a one-time donation to sustain and grow Queerency.
Stay tuned for Part 3 of the Big Book of Queer Business, which will include Cannabis, Food & Beverage, Swimwear, Underwear & Intimates, and more! It drops later this week.
Have a great week,
Trav
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This Law Firm Provides Culturally Conscious Legal Services for LGBTQ-Owned Businesses
There are not many legal practices that specialize in serving the needs of LGBTQ-owned businesses. One international law firm is changing that.
Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP is a full-service business law firm that has offices in Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham, Savannah, and Washington, D.C. In April, the firm launched a new LGBTQ Business Practice Group that offers culturally conscious legal services to LGBTQ-owned businesses.
The first of its kind in the Southeast, the Morris, Manning & Martin (MMM) LGBTQ Business Practice Group counsels LGBTQ-owned and operated businesses on a range of standard business law matters––from finance to litigation to mergers and acquisitions––as well as on legal issues unique to LGBTQ entrepreneurs.
“LGBTQ folks have historically had a harder time accessing traditional lending and making connections in the venture capital community in order to get the funding they need to start scaling their business,” Charles E. Hicks, Associate and Co-Chair of the LGBTQ Business Practice Group at MMM, said in an interview.
“We're here to fill a historical void in access to capital as well as a knowledge gap that has existed with LGBTQ-owned and operated businesses in terms of raising money and scaling their businesses at a good rate,” he said.
Queer-Owned Service Businesses You Should Know
From life coaching to financial consulting, these LGBTQ-owned service businesses will help you improve your life and livelihood.
Queer-Owned Home Goods Brands to Shop This Pride Month and All Year Long
From games to candles to plants to artwork, these LGBTQ-owned and -allied brands can help you turn your house into a home.
21 LGBTQ-Authored Books You Should Read & Queer-Owned Bookstores You Should Browse
“Now you wanna talk about reading? Let's talk about reading."–Venus Xtravaganza, Paris is Burning
Future Outlook
Opportunities & Events to Know About
Morris, Manning & Martin LGBTQ Business Practice
Morris, Manning & Martin’s LGBTQ Business Practice attorneys counsel LGBTQ-owned and operated businesses, business owners, investors, brokers, buyers, sellers, and lenders on legal issues unique to the community, ranging from real estate and finance to mergers and acquisitions and litigation. The group will also help corporate clients fulfill their diversity goals by providing counsel on issues related to supplier diversity initiatives.
Learn more about the MMM LGBTQ Business Practice Group on their website.
Queer to Stay: An LGBTQ+ Business Preservation Initiative
Queer to Stay: An LGBTQ+ Business Preservation Initiative is a collaboration between the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and SHOWTIME® that will celebrate and support Pride and the LGBTQ+ community by identifying and making significant donations to at least 25 LGBTQ+ serving businesses this year, selected based on the communities they serve and their financial need.
•The Queer to Stay initiative is specifically focused on supporting US-based, for-profit businesses. Nonprofit organizations and international businesses are not eligible for funding through the Queer to Stay initiative.
•Your business should primarily serve/cater to the LGBTQ+ community, including LGBTQ+ Communities of Color, the LGBTQ+ Women's Community, and/or the Transgender and Non-Binary Community.
•Your business must explain how they have been negatively impacted financially due to COVID-19.
•Special consideration will be given to businesses that are owned by members of the communities we are trying to serve through this initiative -- queer people of color, queer women and transgender and non-binary individuals. We will also prioritize funding for businesses that did not receive a donation from the Queer to Stay initiative previously.
Application deadline: August 31, 2023
