2 min read February 2023 — In an interview with Invest:, Justice Gennari, president and CEO of Tampa Bay LGBT Chamber, talked about the booming technology and tourism industry in Tampa Bay, what makes Tampa Bay an ideal location for doing business and the need to further advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion practices across business and industries.
What have been some key milestones and highlights for you over the past year?
We are celebrating our 40th anniversary this year, and with this comes our new strategic plan that we develop every five years. At the beginning of the year, we are busy with planning our events, programs, and advocacy efforts to either support or oppose bills that are coming up, and how to collaborate with other chambers of commerce. For example, the Tampa Bay Chamber has an MOU with 13 other chambers within the Tampa Bay area as we advocate for similar issues. Lastly, we are working with other organizations to organize the first Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) summit within the Tampa Bay area. It is going to be a full day summit with lunch, breakout sessions and different tracks depending on the size and needs of your business.
What makes Tampa Bay an ideal for relocating businesses and business expansion?
We’re Champa Bay! We have all the championship teams here in Tampa. And Tampa is a very welcoming, inclusive community. For example, the city of Tampa and St. Petersburg have received 100% on the Human Rights Campaign equality index for the last several years in a row. Moreover, the city of St. Pete is looking at starting a DEI department within the city to focus on small and large business to make sure that the government employees understand the policies and procedures around being a welcoming government agency and to attract talent and businesses to the community.
We also have an extremely thriving tech scene here in Tampa Bay and our partners, such as Synapse, are lending their support to people and ideas whether they be a start-up or a large corporation that is new to the Tampa Bay area. There are incredible developments on both sides of the Bay.Tourism is absolutely booming right now, and we have more visitations than we have ever had prior to COVID, so we are excelling in really all markets of our communities.
What does LGBTQ+ representation look like in the business community today?
It’s completely different from what it was 40 years ago. For example, our initial name was the Business Guild because we couldn’t use any of the LGBTQ+ acronyms at the time. The majority of our members met in the member’s homes after hours and our directory wasn’t posted online. As recently as 2005, Hillsborough County Commission voted to ban displays of Pride and symbols of the LGBTQ+ community on the basis of high-risk behavior. It was only in 2013 that the Commission voted to reverse the ban. So, 40 years down the road representation and acceptance in the region has improved and it has allowed the chamber and our members to thrive.
Today, if you Google inclusive places in the U.S., Tampa pops up. Our St. Pete Pride is the largest Pride in all of Southeast. So, over the years our policies have changed locally as we continue to develop and practice inclusive policies in Tampa, St. Pete and Sarasota. For example, even before the national gay marriage bill, there were policies recognizing marriage of same-sex individuals within the city limits. We are always striving to be an inclusive organization because diversity and inclusion is part of the fabric of our community in Tampa. Corporations are focusing on it more than ever and they want their headquarters and offices located in places that are inclusive.
Have we reached an acceptable level of diversity in the business community?
Personally, I think that when there’s no need for an LGBT chamber, or different groups to allow certain individuals to feel comfortable, then our work will be done but there is a lot of work to do.While we do have a lot to do, I truly believe that we are on the right path not just locally but also nationally. Sometimes it does seem like we are going back in time to a less inclusive place, but that just means that we need to ramp up our efforts and rely more on our allies than we ever have. Our allies have a very loud voice, sometimes even louder than ours.
What is on the advocacy agenda for the Tampa Bay LGBT Chamber?
There will always be issues to advocate for, but we must remember our mission as we are here as a business association. Therefore, our focus is on advocating for business-related issues such as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies within businesses, also known as DEI. For example, last year, we focused on House Bill 7, which states in the bill that an employee can sue an employer if conversations about DEI make the employee feel uncomfortable. This sets the employer up for failure because there is no way to gauge or understand what everyone’s comfort level is, and essentially would act as a deterrent for companies to invest and advocate for DEI. Regardless of this legislation, we’re seeing corporations are still moving forward with their DEI efforts because they know it is good for business.
Essentially then we aim to look at anything that affects businesses being more welcoming and inclusive, or anything related to the LGBTQ+ community and DEI practices. Tourism, travel, transportation, and healthcare are also issues that we look at. Lastly, we also focus a bit on the education system and youth because we believe that our younger generation is going to be the future workforce of not only the Tampa Bay community but the entire U.S.
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