The Airdrie Chamber holds 2SLGBTQ+ 101 breakfast

Written by Connor May Wednesday, Nov 03 2021, 3:20 PM

The Airdrie Chamber held a small breakfast yesterday (November 3rd) to give local businesses the opportunity to ask questions about how they can better serve the LGBTQ+ community.    

 Marilyn Aalhus, who is the Executive Director for the Airdrie Chamber of Commerce, was very happy with what was discussed at the breakfast. 

“It spoke to businesses specifically trying to understand the use of proper pronouns in the workplace, equipping your business with tools to be inclusive to everything like washroom accessibilities, and language that allows everyone to feel welcome.” 

Aalhus went on to say that it was simple conversations on how to become a friend to the LGBTQ+ community and to make sure that Airdrie businesses feel they are welcome to ask questions and be a part of the conversation. 

The breakfast saw over 20 people from different types of businesses within the community. 

“It was a nice size group so we could have a really honest and open dialogue.” 

Aalhus goes on to talk about what the Airdrie Chamber is trying to do with having informational sessions like this one.  

“Obviously a matter of wanting to create a safe place for people in our city. We are a wonderful community where we want to include all different types of diversity and inclusivity.”  Aalhus continues, “even if you may not identify in that particular community, we want to make sure that people feel like they are supported and valued.” 

“From the Chamber point of view, we really developed some new core values for our organization. In those core values, the words inclusivity and diversity were present. We feel that we wanted our business community and our residents to all feel like they have a safe place to be and that we welcome everyone into our Chamber.”