Homophobia costs countries billions of dollars a year
An economist has argued that homophobia and discrimination against the LGBT community costs countries up to $100 billion a year.
UNAIDS researcher Erik Lamontagne found that nations with the most oppressive LGBT laws lose more in economic terms.
“More than the cost itself, it’s the share of the cost of homophobia that is high. The cost, as a share of the GDP, is disproportionately higher in more homophobic settings,” Mr Lamontagne told Humanosphere.
Due to limited data, the figure is a conservative one and could actually be higher.
Mr Lamontagne developed a tool called the Homophobia Climate Index that helped to qualify how discriminatory practices affect growth. It was found that the most homophobic countries lose around one percent of GDP when compared to places that have more accepting attitudes to the community.
Mr Lamontagne added that there was a link between the more a country tried to control someone’s sexual orientation and the economic cost. In Europe and North America, where the LGBT community is more accepted, he said failure to integrate it with things like equality in employment can still cost around $50 billion to GDP.
Earlier this month, the London School of Economics released data that suggested gay men earn less than straight counterparts, something Mr Lamontagne’s research supported. He found that where factors such as discriminatory hiring practices, unequal pay and lower educational attainment exist LGBT people earn less than they should and as a result contribute less to the nation’s GDP.
Mr Lamontagne agreed with a number of notable human rights activists that economic arguments help support a push for equality. “The economic arguments are meant to complete and reinforce the human rights argument,” he said.
About author
You might also like
Rhyheim Shabazz may have (finally!) bottomed, and Twitter can’t handle it
Rhyheim Shabazz is everyone’s favourite porn newcomer, who shot to prominence over the past year mostly through his own OnlyFans and JustForFans pages, and amassing over 300,000 followers (reportedly the
Two men might be second and third to be cured of HIV in new cases of remission from the virus
A second person has experienced sustained remission from HIV-1, according to a case study published Tuesday in the journal Nature. Some scientists believe that the “London patient” has been effectively
The Trailer For James Franco’s ‘King Cobra’ is Finally Out
Since the project was announced nearly a year ago, there’s been a lot of talk about King Cobra, the murderous tale of lust, greed and crime set against a wholesome
4 Comments
Delle
February 18, 09:22I actually always knew somewhere deep down that homophobia has somewhat of a relationship with economic regression. I mean, all countries that have staunch homophobia are amongst the most backward or stagnant economies. But look at accepting countries…when would they see the light? Sigh.
Mandy
February 18, 12:31Looks like homophobia is quite the expensive habit.
ambivalentone
February 18, 13:26Interesting. To think gay ppl indeed are the problems of our economically regressing Nigeria.
Mandy
February 18, 19:48???? I know, right?