In today’s political climate, many people worry about not just where they spend their money, but where that money goes after it leaves their hands. Barry Brandon, owner of creative collective For All Humans, wants to alleviate some of that pressure.

“I think people at this point in life like to know where their money is going and who they’re supporting. For me, personally, if I found out that a really delicious restaurant, or a restaurant I’d never heard of was queer-owned, I would want to go find out about it,” Brandon said.

Tonight he’s kicking off what he hopes will be the first of many networking nights, connecting queer and ally people and businesses. Brandon said the purpose of the networking group will be threefold: have people meet people in real life, find fellow business owners and artists who they could work with and introduce Atlanta to more LGBT-owned and LGBT-friendly restaurants and venues.

The networking group will provide a space for people to meet, have face-to-face conversations and offer their services to one another.

“I didn’t really know of a queer networking group to talk one-on-one of their needs as a small business or an artist,” Brandon said. “I posted a status update probably a month or more ago and I said who would be interested if we put together this queer networking group?”

Nearly 75 people RSVP’d thus far for the first event.

“What I’m hoping that this is going to be is turning into a once-a-month meet-up. I intend to bring the meet-up to different venues and restaurants,” Brandon said. “The intention is to really put eyes on businesses that are queer-owned or queer-friendly-owned.”

First Queer-Owned + Queer-Friendly-Owned Networking Meetup

Today at 6:30 p.m.

Brezza Cucina Pizzeria, Ponce City Market, Atlanta

Free to attend; light bites and drinks available