Foreword
It is my pleasure to present the Peter Tatchell Foundation’s report into an often ignored consequence of anti-LGBT+ criminalisation – The Economic Cost of Homophobia.
This report does not consider the important human rights arguments against criminalising homosexuality. Instead, it argues that in addition to the moral considerations, nations have a monetary and economic incentive to reform and repeal their anti-LGBT+ legislation.
We show that LGBT+ rights go hand-in-hand with economic development and thus governments that insist on maintaining the criminalisation of same-sex relations will continue to put their countries at a considerable economic disadvantage.
The examples in this report conclusively link the mistreatment of the LGBT+ community to the loss of tourism, a LGBT+ brain drain and diminished inward foreign aid and investment.
There are also a plethora of additional adverse economic effects stemming from a culture of intolerance, exclusion and discrimination, from access to global markets to national reputation, public health and corruption. The evidence put forward here argues that anti-LGBT+ laws are not only social and economic drawbacks for individual LGBT+ people, but their very existence impedes the wider economic development and long-term prosperity of a nation.
Read entire report here
Source – The Peter Tatchell Foundation
