In the war for the hearts, minds and corporate relocations of businesses, Chicago has fired another shot across the bow at three Sun Belt rivals over recent legislation targeting the LGBTQ+ community, such as the Florida education law critics have dubbed “Don’t Say Gay.”
World Business Chicago, the city’s public-private economic development arm, bought full-page ads Thursday in the Orlando Sentinel, Dallas Morning News and Phoenix Business Journal to launch a new marketing campaign and promote Chicago as a more inclusive business climate.
“In Chicago, We Believe,” takes on a lightning rod issue that has led a growing number of corporations, including Walt Disney Co., to condemn a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation enacted in Florida and other states. While Disney World is unlikely to pull up stakes anytime soon, the new ad includes a broader pitch that all businesses are “welcome in Chicago.”
“Chicago has values as a city, which makes it attractive for talent and corporations in the climate where other states drive legislation that is not respectful, inclusive of all the residents,” said Michael Fassnacht, president and CEO of World Business Chicago and the city’s chief marketing officer. “I think that diversity is our key competitive advantage.”
Last month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation “prohibiting classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity” in kindergarten through third grade. The Parental Rights in Education law has sparked outrage among LGBTQ+ advocates and opposition from dozens of companies, including Disney, which has 77,000 employees at its Disney World theme park in Orlando.
Texas, which is weighing similar legislation banning classroom lessons on sexual orientation or gender identity, has recently enacted restrictions of its own. In February, Gov. Greg Abbott issued a letter calling sex change procedures “child abuse” and requiring state agencies to investigate medical professionals and parents involved in gender-transitioning procedures.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed two new laws March 30 that delay gender-confirmation surgery until adulthood and require that only “biologically female athletes” compete on women’s sports teams at public schools in the state.
“This is really destructive legislation,” said Tracy Baim, a longtime Chicago LGBTQ+ journalist and co-publisher of the Chicago Reader. “It is destructive to the people who are immediately impacted when their families are investigated, or when teachers lose their jobs, when people are sued by individuals.”
Baim said Chicago has “very progressive legislation and welcoming organizations and businesses,” and that it was a “great opportunity” for World Business Chicago to leverage that distinction for unabashed economic development.
Chicago is not alone in that strategy. On Monday, New York City launched a colorful billboard campaign in Florida plastered with the word “gay,” and inviting Floridians to “come to the city where you can say whatever you want.”
World Business Chicago has traded similar marketing salvos in recent years with other states — especially Texas.
In 2013, then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry bought a slew of radio and newspaper ads in Chicago before heading to the city on a mission to recruit Illinois employers to relocate to the Lone Star State. A delegation from the Texas Economic Development Corp. made a similar recruiting trip to Chicago in 2016.
Last September, World Business Chicago took out a full-page ad in the Sunday Dallas Morning News inviting businesses to head north after Texas passed restrictive abortion and voting legislation.
