A Certified Queer-Affirming Business has been trained and certified by the Affirming Business Institute in queer-informed business practices that helps them understand how to show up in queer-affirming ways with their LGBTQ+ clients.

The Affirming Business Directory will launch in fall/winter 2026. We launched the Affirming Business Institute courses in August 2026 and are giving businesses time to go through the course and register for their directory listing before we go live with the directory. Once we have enough businesses registered, we will launch the directory to the public! 

Yes! Use code QUEERFAM to get 10% off at checkout. Please only use this if you are queer-owned. We verify the use of this code and may automatically mark you as a queer-owned business when you sign up for our directory.

Nope! This course is open to any business owner or service provider who is committed to running their business in queer-informed and queer-affirming ways. You don't have to be queer, and you don't have to have any previous knowledge on being LGBTQ+ friendly in your industry to get started. We'll teach you everything you need to know.

Yes! The focus of our courses is in learning new ways of running our businesses, and even though some things you may already practice as a queer business owner yourself, none of us are immune to heteronormative and cisnormative defaults baked into the ways we were taught to run our businesses. Even if parts of the course are a refresher, you still leave with the badge, certification, and a directory listing to give you visibility with queer clients looking to connect with businesses like yours.

Generic DEI training is built for everyone, which means the scenarios, examples, and guidance rarely reflect the specific situations that come up in your work. Your course was designed specifically for your industry. Every scenario, every skill, and every best practice comes from real situations you will actually encounter. Nothing was repurposed from a corporate HR module or adapted from a different industry. Our courses are built from the ground up by a queer expert who works in your field.

The Affirming Business Directory is gated by the completion or recertification in one of our business courses, and the businesses listed are both queer-owned and queer-allied. We made it this way to ensure that businesses in our directory aren't just queer-friendly or queer-owned, but they're trained on how to celebrate, support, and affirm LGBTQ+ clients in queer-informed ways for their industry every step of the way.