Some Gay Bars Are Now Boycotting Bud Light (The Balance Sheet: May 7, 2023)

Some Gay Bars Are Now Boycotting Bud Light (The Balance Sheet: May 7, 2023)

Hey there! As we head into Pride Month, I need your help:

Are you a queer-owned business? If so, sign up to be featured in Queerency's annual Big Book of Queer Business. It's a digital guide that includes hundreds of LGBTQ-owned businesses and brands to support during Pride Month and beyond, and this year's book will be bigger and better than ever! Sign your business up at this link.

• Do you work at an LGBTQ-allied business or organization? If so, I'd love to know what Pride campaigns or initiatives you have this year! Please fill out this short survey or share it with a team member at your company.

And if you're a business that's interested in partnering with Queerency for Pride Month, I'd love to chat with you! Just email me at hello@queerency.com and we can explore some opportunities.

Have a great week,

Trav

Top Line

Stories with Main Character Energy

Equal Health Provides Comprehensive Healthcare for the LGBTQ+ Community

Dr. Avantika “Avi” Varma’s path to being an LGBTQ+ healthcare provider started in an orphanage. The family medicine physician and HIV specialist would spend summers visiting her family in New Delhi, India, where her maternal uncle owned and operated a hospital.

During one visit, she volunteered at an orphanage for abandoned children who were living with HIV. “Seeing those children smiling and happy despite their situation really drove me into studying HIV medicine,” she explains. “I learned that the LGBTQIA+ community, especially gay and bisexual men, are disproportionately impacted by HIV. So, from there, my focus on LGBTQIA+ healthcare was born.”

We speak to Dr. Avi Varma, MD, the founder and CEO of Equal Health, a new digital health company that provides comprehensive healthcare services to the LGBTQIA+ community.

Continue reading at Queerency

Taylor’s Tacos is Chicago’s First Black-Owned, Woman-Owned, Queer-Owned Taco Restaurant

When Taylor Mason returned home to Chicago after spending some time living in Los Angeles, she knew she would miss her friends, the culture, and the haunts that’d become familiar to her. But what she really knew she would long for…were the tacos.

“Chicago is definitely one of the food capitals of the world, but it was California’s street style Mexican food that kind of captured my heart and stomach,” she told ESSENCE.

After quickly realizing the corporate route wasn’t for her, she stopped going on interviews and set her sights on starting a business: a taco stand. And although her food was delicious, it wasn’t until a friend connected her to authentic Mexican culinary culture did her entrepreneurial journey change forever.

Continue reading at Essence

Chicago Gay Bars Stop Selling Bud Light, Other Anheuser-Busch Beers After Brand Backs Down To Anti-Trans Critics

NORTHALSTED — A slew of Chicago gay bars have stopped selling Anheuser Busch InBev products after the beer giant distanced itself from transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney’s Bud Light marketing campaign amid anti-trans backlash.

2Bears Tavern Group, which owns four gay bars from Uptown to Rogers Park, was the first to drop Anheuser-Busch InBev, posting on Instagram Thursday that its abandonment of Mulvaney amid controversy “shows how little Anheuser-Busch cares about the LGBTQIA+ community, and in particular transgender people, who have been under unrelenting attack in this country.”

Continue reading at Block Club Chicago

This organization built an app to boost financial literacy among older LGBTQ+ Americans

SAGECents is a free app, designed to boost financial literacy among older LGBTQ+ Americans.

It’s a partnership between SAGE, a national organization dedicated to improving the lives of older LGBTQ+ people, and LifeCents, a financial wellness platform.

“They’ve faced a lifetime of discrimination and social stigma, so they’re at higher risk to face poverty, homelessness and poor health outcomes than their peers,” said Christina DaCosta at SAGE.

Continue reading at CNBC

TikTok Reportedly Kept a Log of Users Who Watched Gay Content

A group of ex-TikTok employees has blown the whistle on the company's alleged practice of keeping a list of users who watched gay content for at least a year. As the Wall Street Journal reports, employees became concerned about the alleged list because it could be used to identify LGBTQ users and, if leaked or provided to hostile governments, could put those users at risk. Social media companies have long been known to maintain detailed, personal profiles of their users to serve them personalized ads. Nevertheless, social networks are discouraged from collecting more sensitive data such as any data related to sexual orientation because it could make targets of those users.

Continue reading at Yahoo News

Equity

Queer-Owned and -Allied Businesses In the News

A Safe Haven in The Woodlands - OutSmart Magazine
Conduit Coffee is the suburban LGBTQ-affirming spot.
Lex is a new queer app that gives me hope
It’s on Lex that I found my first post-pandemic date and entered a new realm of homo-social interactions.
How Queer Entrepreneur Zoya Biglary is Revolutionizing the Plant-Based Raw Fish Industry
Zoya Biglary is changing the world of plant-based raw fish one sea algae at a time. You may recognize Zoya Biglary from one of her viral fruit-cutting videos on TikTok and Instagram. She is a first-generation American Persian woman who tells engaging stories about her life while showing off her impr…
Downtown Flint restaurant to become gay bar, safe space
By Hannah Mose
This Microhood Feels Like SF at Its Best—and It’s Led by Women
Scruffy and lively, 16th Street seems to have escaped the doom and gloom.

Assets

Good News in Queer Business, Politics, and More

Screenings for sexually transmitted infections don’t routinely test for HIV in Texas. A House bill could change that.
House Bill 3377 was authored by freshman state Rep. Venton Jones, the Legislature’s first openly HIV-positive member. It’s received overwhelming public and bipartisan support.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore Signs Laws Protecting Abortion and Expanding Trans Healthcare
Maryland Governor Wes Moore signed laws on Wednesday aimed at protecting abortion rights and expanding Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming treatment.
Over 115 Nebraska business, nonprofit leaders sign letter opposing bills attacking LGBTQ+ rights | Nebraska Examiner
More than 115 Nebraska business leaders sign a letter opposing bills that attack LGBTQ+ community and rights.
F1 Driver Lewis Hamilton Slams DeSantis and ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Ahead of Miami Race
Hamilton has stood up for LGBTQ+ rights before.
Oregon lawmakers advance bill on abortion, trans health care
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon lawmakers have advanced a sweeping bill intended to protect abortion and gender-affirming health care for transgender people by boosting legal safeguards and expanding access and insurance coverage.
Ted Nugent’s Alabama Concert Canceled Over Public Outcry: ‘Lose This Show or Lose My Business’
“To bring this transphobic individual into our diverse neighborhood is a travesty,” wrote one person ahead of promoters pulling the plug
Miley Cyrus’ Happy Hippie Foundation Partners With Betsey Johnson to Help LGBTQ Youth
“Betsey Johnson shares our belief in rallying youth to fight injustice,” the pop star said in a statement.

Liabilities

Challenges to Overcome

Louisiana Republicans Vote Against LGBTQ+ Workplace Protections
They claimed that protecting the LGBTQ+ community from discrimination would open business up to lawsuits.
Florida Republicans pass bill targeting transgender bathroom use
“You can’t think past your hatred, and you can’t think past your discrimination,” said one Democrat.
States add laws on pronouns, sports for transgender students
Republican-controlled states across the U.S. are adding restrictions on how schools should handle transgender students. Indiana’s governor this week signed a law that will require schools to notify parents when children request a name or pronoun change. It’s causing worries that students will be out…
Seoul’s LGBT festival blocked by Christian concert outside city hall, organisers say
Seoul’s city government has effectively blocked South Korea’s largest annual LGBT festival from taking place outside city hall this year after granting a permit for a Christian youth concert instead, the LGBT event’s organisers said this week.

Future Outlook

Opportunities & Events to Know About

National Pride Grant for LGBTQIA+ Small Businesses

The LGBTQIA+ National Grant allows eligible small businesses to receive one of 25 grants totaling $25,000. Founders First is committed to increasing the number of diverse founder-led companies generating over $1 million in revenue and creating premium-wage jobs. To be eligible, the company's founder must identify as LGBTQIA+, have an active U.S.-based business, be the CEO, President, or owner, and employ between 2 and 50 employees.

Learn more and apply here

Black Queer Creative Summit

GLAAD’s Black Queer Creative Summit is the first-of-its-kind in-person event, specifically geared towards educating, empowering, and training emerging Black LGBTQ+ creatives across five sectors of the entertainment industry:

  1.  EXECUTIVES
  2. CREATORS
  3. BEHIND THE SCENES 
  4. ON SCREEN TALENT
  5. MUSIC SUPERVISION

Learn more and apply here