The headlines have reached us all.

We are grateful for the voices of our national LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations, community partners, and our members. In times of uncertainty, what matters most is not just the words we speak, but the values we uphold, the communities we strengthen, and the work we continue despite those who would rather see us divided.

For thirty years, OUT Georgia Business Alliance has served as the voice of Georgia’s LGBTQIA+ and allied business community. We have weathered challenges before—not because we were granted dignity and visibility, but because our resilience, our ingenuity, and our unwavering commitment to one another have carried us forward.

As a chamber of commerce, we work in numbers, and the numbers tell a story not just of struggle, but of perseverance.

In 2000, Georgia recognized just under twenty thousand same-sex couples.

This year we celebrate 10 years of marriage equality and by 2020, the numbers of LGBTQ+ families in Georgia nearly doubled in light of consideration and stability.

Since 2016, the number of transgender Georgians officially counted has risen above fifty-five thousand—a number that wasn’t even acknowledged in census data less than a few decades ago.

Today, we are more than four hundred thousand strong in this state alone, over 400 of which are with us as members, contributing to the economy, shaping industries, and proving, time and again, that security and prosperity does not belong to a select few—it belongs to those willing to build it together.

And while we love to look at the data, here you will never be just a number.

Your identity, your family, your pronouns, and your dreams— are not afterthoughts. They define the fabric of our economy, of our communities, of our shared future. The dignity of meaningful work, the promise of opportunity, and the right to participate fully in the life of this country are not conditional. They are essential.

There will always be those who attempt to turn back the clock, who believe that progress can be undone with the stroke of a pen. Still, the history is clear that efforts to erase, to suppress, and to shut us out of the economy and public life, do not stand the test of time.

The policies being pushed today are old. They belong to a past that sought to divide rather than uplift, to exclude rather than to expand opportunity. But we are still here. And we are still growing.

This chamber was born in a city Too Busy To Hate, a beacon of progress and a model for what can be achieved when people choose justice over fear, when we work not just for ourselves but in community. That remains our calling today.

We will not step back. We will not be silent.
We will not allow temporary obstacles to deter us from the work of building a future that belongs to all of us.

We are business owners, workers, families, and neighbors.
We have built, and will continue to build, an economy that values diversity, rewards innovation, and welcomes all who seek to contribute.

We will stand together, as we always have, and we will move forward.

(Traducción al español disponible.)