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ALLENTOWN — Marissa Lenci owns a printing business that's into its third year. Like most new business owners, she faces big and small challenges, from getting supplies to coordinating her office paint colors. "But through it all you have to learn how to be patient and be respectful of other people," she said. Lenci is also lesbian, though she said she has not experienced any discrimination running her business. "I don't hide the fact that I'm gay, but I don't advertise it," she said. "I have not run up against any negative attitudes about that. I've been very fortunate in that regard." Lenci served as a panelist on entrepreneurship Tuesday during the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce's first LGBT Business Summit at Muhlenberg College's Seegers Union. About 170 people attended the event. The Chamber formed an LGBT Business Council aimed at the Valley's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in 2012. "We're building capacity," Chamber President and CEO Tony Iannelli said, noting the council has held other events, including wedding expos. "It takes time." Lizabeth Kleintop, former co-chair of the council, said the summit was timely, given the Trump administration's efforts to roll back anti-discrimination efforts at the federal level. "Today you will hear about businesses changing to include their LGBT employees, LGBT people starting their own businesses, and how you, too, can reach the LGBT community as a target community," Kleintop said. The Chamber doesn't have a tally of how many LGBT-owned businesses exist locally, but Adrian Shanker, executive director of the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center in Allentown, said the number is climbing, given the region's growth in same-sex households. The 2010 census for example, showed a 55 percent increase in same-sex households in Allentown, to 405. Shanker also said the community was encouraged when, in April, Gov. Tom Wolf signed an executive order barring state contractors and grant recipients from discriminating based on sexual orientation or gender identity. "We've seen more Fortune 500 companies do this as well," said Shanker. "LGBT-owned businesses increase the diversity of our entire community, just like racial-ethnic minority and women-owned businesses." Former Air Products chemist and executive Sherri Bassner spoke about her experience over nearly 30 years of "coming out" at work. She said she witnessed an evolution, with bosses initially reticent and then later more inclusive. Bassner said that in 2000, when her boss asked her to return to Air Products' Trexlertown headquarters from a management position she held in Mexico, the Horsham, Montgomery County, woman said the business community was more accepting of her sexuality. But she understands how other people can become marginalized or shunned. "I was very very fortunate," she said. "That's not everybody's experience." Responding to an audience question about when it's best to come out about a same-sex relationship at work, Bassner said people must remain vigilant and wait for an appropriate time. "There is no perfect guidance," she said. Many people, including Amy Nilsen, attended the business summit came as "allied professionals," according to the Chamber. Nilsen, who is community relations manager at Capital Blue Cross, said she came to the summit to learn about issues facing the LGBT community. "Just because I'm accepting doesn't mean everybody else is," said Nilsen. "Even though people can have company policies, it doesn't mean the culture is accepting." Besides the presentations by Bassner and entrepreneurs such as Lenci, attendees got to choose from two other breakout sessions — on inclusion in the workplace and "The Power of the LGBT Dollar." Actress and musician Lea DeLaria, the first openly gay comic on American television who appears on Netflix's series "Orange Is the New Black" delivered the keynote address, but her speech was not open to the media. Read the original article here.