LGBTIQA+ owned American small businesses obtained less finance, and Australia has no comparable data
The first national survey in the United States to identify LGBTIQA+ owned small businesses found that they were less likely than other firms to receive the finance they applied for. We have found no comparable Australian data, so whether a similar gap exists for LGBTIQA+ owners here cannot be established.
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Pride in Business, a Just Gold publication. Disclosures and editorial principles
The 2021 Small Business Credit Survey
In 2021, the Federal Reserve Banks’ Small Business Credit Survey asked for the first time whether a business was owned by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer people. Of the 10,914 small businesses that took part, 445 said that they were, meaning that LGBTIQA+ people owned half or more of the business. The Movement Advancement Project and the Center for LGBTIQA+ Economic Advancement and Research subsequently analysed what those businesses reported.
Across each of the measures reported, LGBTIQA+ owned firms applied for financing at about the same rate as other firms, 35 per cent compared with 33 per cent, but were less likely to obtain it. Forty six per cent received none of the financing they applied for, compared with 34 per cent of other firms, and 24 per cent received all of it, compared with 32 per cent. For business loans, 80 per cent of LGBTIQA+ applicants were not approved, compared with 48 per cent of other applicants. Where applications were unsuccessful, LGBTIQA+ owners were more likely to cite weak sales and missing documentation, and in a third of cases they cited lenders not approving financing for businesses like theirs, compared with 24 per cent of other firms.
Limitations of the findings
The findings carry substantial limitations, the first being that the survey was conducted during the COVID 19 pandemic, a year of record stress on small businesses. The LGBTIQA+ owned firms in the sample also differed from other firms in ways relevant to lenders, with 59 per cent describing themselves as a low credit risk compared with 69 per cent of other firms. The data show a gap but do not, on their own, establish its cause, and they should not be read as proof that lenders discriminated.
The results are also specific to the United States, where banking, lending rules and the small business economy differ from those in Australia, so they cannot be applied directly to the Australian context.
The absence of Australian data
The American survey asked about LGBTIQA+ ownership, and we have not found an Australian survey that does the same. As the first article in this series noted, Australia’s national business count does not identify who owns a business at all. In the absence of that information, it is not possible to say whether LGBTIQA+ owners in Australia face a similar gap, a smaller one or none.
The lack of evidence has practical consequences, because access to finance shapes whether a business can grow, hire staff or survive a difficult year, and if a gap exists and is not measured, lenders, regulators and government programs cannot be asked to respond to it.
Options available to owners
For owners seeking finance in the meantime, banking is among the services covered by the Sex Discrimination Act, so an owner who believes they were refused finance or offered worse terms because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status can seek advice or lodge a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission, as article 5 in this series explains. Small businesses can also take complaints about financial firms to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, which describes itself as providing "fair, free and independent dispute resolution for financial complaints." In either case, a record of what was asked, what was said and what reasons were given makes a complaint considerably stronger.
For researchers and policy makers, the American evidence exists because an existing survey added one question on ownership, and an Australian business survey could add the same question.
Sources
- Movement Advancement Project and Center for LGBTQ Economic Advancement and Research, LGBTQ small businesses in 2021
- Movement Advancement Project, 2022 release: LGBTQ owned small businesses report
- Australian Financial Complaints Authority
- Australian Human Rights Commission, Complaints under the Sex Discrimination Act: sexual orientation
- Australian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, July 2022 to June 2026
Source pages last checked 19 October 2026.
Pride in Business publishes analysis on LGBTIQA+ economic participation in Australia. It is funded and published through Just Gold’s impact program.
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