The Greater Houston LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce is deeply disappointed by the federal court ruling blocking the race-conscious provisions of the City of Houston’s Minority, Women, and Small Business Enterprise contracting program.

For more than four decades, this program has helped expand access to public contracting opportunities for businesses that have historically encountered systemic barriers. Supplier diversity programs do not eliminate competition or guarantee contracts. Businesses must still demonstrate their qualifications, capabilities, performance, and value. These programs help ensure that more qualified businesses have a meaningful opportunity to compete.

The ruling’s impact extends beyond contracting numbers. Small and diverse businesses create jobs, strengthen neighborhoods, generate economic opportunity, and contribute to a more resilient regional economy. In Houston—a city whose diversity is one of its greatest strengths—our public contracting practices should reflect a commitment to broad participation in our economy.

We stand with Houston’s minority-owned businesses and our fellow chambers and business organizations that have worked for decades to advance economic opportunity. Undermining pathways for historically underrepresented businesses to compete does not strengthen our economy, it weakens it.

We encourage the City of Houston to pursue every viable legal and policy option to preserve meaningful access to contracting opportunities and address the disparities that continue to affect historically underrepresented businesses.

The Chamber will continue advocating for fair access, inclusive procurement, and an economy in which every qualified business has the opportunity to compete, grow, and succeed.