LGBTQ+ Businesses Can Now Self-Identify on Yelp

Just in time for Pride Month, crowd-sourced business review site Yelp has added a new feature for LGBTQ-owned businesses to self-identify! 

"Yelp is making it easier than ever for consumers to support businesses that align with their values, and find safe and welcoming places to enjoy Pride celebrations all month long," the company announced in a blog post. "Restaurant, food and nightlife businesses that identify as LGBTQ-owned or Open to All will be highlighted on Yelp with rainbow-colored map pins for the entire month of June to help people find places to celebrate Pride Month."

The feature is opt-in only and up to the business owner. You can view LGBTQ-owned businesses on Yelp mobile app by going to the business page under the "more info" section, and on Yelp’s website in the "amenities and more" section.

In an effort to keep these businesses from experiencing harassment, Yelp says they are "proactively monitoring pages for hate speech against the LGBTQ+ community and will remove any hateful, racist or harmful content that violates our content guidelines."

The "Open to All" feature has been in place since 2018, signaling to customers that a business welcomes all patrons, including LGBTQ+ folks. Over 581,000 businesses have indicated that they are Open to All on Yelp. You can also lookup businesses that have Gender-neutral Restrooms, a feature that was released in 2017 that over 426,000 businesses have indicated that they offer.

"To further lift up and empower the LGBTQ+ community, in the coming weeks, we will share stories of LGBTQ+ business owners on our social media channels, and host virtual events with LGBTQ-owned businesses," Yelp concluded. "We will also spotlight LGBTQ+ bars to celebrate Pride across North America and distribute pronoun pins and Pride mugs for members of the Yelp Elite Squad."