In 2015, Sacramento City Council member Steve Hansen, Sacramento’s first openly LGBTQ+ council member, invited Sacramento Rainbow Chamber of Commerce to be part of a community coalition to pursue official city designation of the LGBTQ+ neighborhood of Midtown Sacramento historically known as “Lavender Heights.” For generations the Lavender Heights neighborhood has been central to Sacramento’s LGBTQ+ culture and community: home to the Sacramento Gay & Lesbian Community Center, founded in 1983 five LGBTQ+ nightclubs and numerous LGBTQ+-owned shops, galleries, eateries and other businesses.