2025 Public Policy Platform
The Mid-America LGBT Chamber of Commerce (The Chamber) advocates, promotes and facilitates the success of the LGBTQ+ business community and their allies through the guiding principles of equality, inclusion, economics and education. The Chamber’s purpose is to create, identify and enhance business opportunities for LGBTQ+-owned and LGBTQ+-friendly organizations, thereby fostering a more inclusive and vibrant economy in our region.
To ensure all individuals can participate in the broad market economy, we take the following positions regarding public policy.
The 2025 Public Policy Platform was formally endorsed and approved by the Board of the Mid-America LGBT Chamber of Commerce. We are a non-partisan organization focused on the betterment of business and the LGBTQ+ community through economic inclusion and business opportunity. As a 501(c)6 organization, the Mid-America LGBT Chamber of Commerce does not endorse political candidates.
For more information about the Chamber's Public Policy platform email us.
Education
Our school systems are some of the biggest assets businesses have to attract and retain talent. We support education policies that fully fund K-12 education, protect LGBTQ+ students and their privacy, and ensure all students are prepared to enter a workforce where diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives are increasingly prevalent.
LGBTQ+ students tend to take on more educational debt than their non-LGBTQ+ peers due to acrimonious familial relationships. This can lead to larger financial burdens in preparation for the workforce of tomorrow. Affordable education is paramount to the longevity of a vibrant LGBTQ+ and business community. Therefore, we support equitable student loan repayment practices.
Gender Identity and Expression
We believe in the fundamental right of an individual, regardless of age, to express their gender identity in a way that corresponds to who they are without fear of repercussion or persecution. We oppose any legislation that would go against best practices in the medical community related to gender affirming care or restrict the rights of parents to decide what is best for their children.
Furthermore, we encourage businesses and government organizations, including public safety departments, to proactively pursue educational opportunities around gender identity and expression to foster trust within the LGBTQ+ community.
LGBTBE Support
The Chamber supports efforts to recognize LGBT-Owned Business Enterprises (LGBTBE) as certified minority-owned businesses so that government entities and corporations engage them in the same way they engage Minority-Owned Business Enterprises (MBE) and Woman-Owned Business Enterprises (WBE).
Non-Discrimination
We support non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ individuals promoting equal access to employment, housing, credit, public spaces and services, education, transportation and government-funded programs. This includes our support of federal and state nondiscrimination laws, such as the Equality Act.
Family Benefits
We support strong families as the foundation of healthy communities and economies. Adoption and foster care rights should be extended to all individuals, and adoption and foster care benefits should be offered to all employees regardless of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. We support legislation that promotes safe, healthy homes for LGBTQ+ families.
Health
We recognize the importance of a healthy workforce and encourage businesses of all sizes to adopt health care policies that are fully inclusive to all members of the workforce. Policies and laws should require that all employees and their families be treated equitably regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
We support legislation that prohibits licensed mental health practitioners from subjecting LGBTQ+ minors to harmful conversion “therapy” practices that attempt to change their sexual orientation or gender identity.
In the interest of a healthy LGBTQ+ workforce, we support expanding and fully funding the Medicaid program in Kansas to close the coverage gap and ensure adequate funding for health care providers serving the economically disadvantaged in the Kansas City region.
Market Access
We support an open marketplace that respects and serves all customers regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. For our community and all levels of government to thrive economically, we should not implement artificial barriers that alienate individuals and prevent them from receiving products and services, including barriers premised on religious freedom.