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Texas LGBTQ+ business group had to relocate event because of Trump DEI executive order (exclusive)

Chandrayee Soneja/Soneja Creative

Tammi Wallace at Greater Houston LGBTQ+ Chamber event

The Federal Reserve Bank of Houston said it could no longer allow the Greater Houston LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce to hold a major event at the site.

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The Greater Houston LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce was forced to move the location of a major event on short notice because of Donald Trump’s anti-DEI executive order.

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The second annual THRIVE Small Business Summit & Matchmaker event was scheduled to be held Thursday at the Federal Reserve Bank of Houston. But bank officials informed the chamber Monday night that the event could not be held there because of Trump’s executive order directing federal agencies to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

“As I’m sure you’re aware, a number of executive orders have been implemented by the new presidential administration that pertain to the work of federal agencies,” reads an email from the bank to Tammi Wallace, cofounder, president, and CEO of the chamber, and shared by Wallace. “In particular, any initiative related to DEI has been curtailed. Our operating understanding was that the Thrive event was permissible because of its business and economic development focus. Unfortunately, this evening, we learned that we could not host the event and remain in compliance with the executive order. We deeply regret having to make this change.”

The Hilton Garden Inn/Home 2 Suites Medical Center, near Houston’s major hospitals, agreed Tuesday afternoon that it would host the event, only 30 hours away. It had hosted the first such summit, held last year.

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“They really stepped up in short order,” Wallace tells The Advocate. The event went off successfully, with more than 130 small business owners, supplier diversity professionals, LGBTQ+ employee resource groups, and small business support organizations were in attendance. It included panels, breakout sessions, and a “Matchmaker” session providing the opportunity for small businesses to network with supplier diversity professionals and employee resource groups from larger companies. “It was great,” Wallace says, adding, “The attendees were just caught off guard … but so grateful we moved forward.”

Tammi Wallace addresses the Houston LGBTQ+ Chamber THRIVE event Tammi Wallace at Greater Houston LGBTQ+ Chamber eventChandrayee Soneja/Soneja Creative

Wallace and Gary Wood, founder and president of the consulting firm Integrus Solutions, founded the Greater Houston chamber in 2016. It’s the fourth LGBTQ+ chamber in Texas, after Austin, San Antonio, and North Texas (Dallas-Fort Worth). Wallace has a full-time job running the chamber now, but she still runs her small business as well, In Focus Strategies, also a consulting firm.

“We looked around the business and economic landscape in Houston and didn’t see LGBTQ businesses represented,” Wallace says of the impetus for founding the chamber. The Houston group is autonomous but an affiliate of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce.

Wallace has a background that includes 14 years in corporate America, serving as chief of staff for a state representative, and work with nonprofits. In the corporate world, Wallace, a lesbian, had to be closeted for much of the time. She couldn’t even display her partner’s picture, she says.

The situation created by the executive orders “is so painful,” she says. “It brings up the trauma and pain we experience as a community, just because of who we are and who we love.”

The chamber is considering legal action, as the Fed’s cancellation appears to create a First Amendment issue, Wallace notes.

Far-right forces have put pressure on corporations to end DEI programs as well, and some have done so, but the number of companies with them is at a record high. Some of the corporate diversity professionals who attended the summit said their companies are considering simply changing the name of the department.

Doing away with DEI initiatives is not only discriminatory but bad for business, she says. “These executive orders are hurting diverse communities,” she says. “We are part of the fabric of the community. When diverse business owners succeed, we all succeed, and our economy wins.”

“DEI is good for the bottom line,” she says.

Attendees at THRIVE Chamber eventChandrayee Soneja/Soneja Creative

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