New Research Shows Direct Damage of Homophobic Laws on a Country’s Economy

Homophobic lawmakers will now have another reason to rethink legislation, apart from human decency, as new research suggests anti-LGBT+ legislation harms countries’ economic prospects.
The report, ‘The Economic Cost of Homophobia’ by the Peter Tatchell Foundation, focuses on a number of consequences.
While the report doesn’t gloss over the human rights abuses, which hundreds of LGBT+ citizens have to face daily, it shifts the focus to prove that homophobic legislation is in fact detrimental to economic development.
Homophobic harassment and intolerance leads to lost productivity in the workplace and severely damages mental and physical health.
LGBT+ people moving to more gay-friendly countries leads to a brain drain that directly damages the social and economic vitality of their home countries. Outlawing homosexuality leads to many highly educated LGBT+ people emigrating, and the negative impact on tax receipts and innovation through deterring inward aid and investment.
Homophobic countries are less likely to attract foreign aid and investment. They also potentially lose billions in tourism revenue by driving away LGBT+ people and allies, who less likely to go to such countries.
The report argues that besides the social and economic drawbacks for individual LGBT+ people, homophobic laws directly obstruct the wider economic development and long-term prosperity of a nation.
> Borislava Todorova