What Homophobia Costs a Country's Economy

[DonViejo]

LUCY WESTCOTT

The economic cost of homophobia, particularly for countries in the global south, is becoming increasingly clear, according to a panel that spoke at the World Bank on Wednesday. While the continuing invisibility of gays and lesbians means that it's difficult to get the numbers for a wide-reaching study, the economic cost of homophobia ranges from about 0.1 of a percent to 1.7 percent of GDP, according to Dr. M. V. Lee Badgett, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. In India, where Badgett conducted a case study, the numbers can be narrowed down to 0.1 to 0.7 percent of GDP. For the world's LGBT population, homophobia can lead to loss of employment, workplace or educational discrimination, poor health, and poverty.

Speaking before a panel of experts and professors in the gender and development fields at the World Bank, Fabrice Houdart, president of World Bank GLOBE, an LGBT resource group for employees at the organization, called discrimination a “significant, self-inflicted economic wound.”

There are 77 countries that criminalize homophobia, according to the United Nations; seven of those implement the death penalty. Russia has recently been in the spotlight for its anti-gay laws, and Uganda’s anti-gay bill has been widely covered, as has the fact that American evangelical activism was an influence in the decision to harshly punish gay Ugandans. A proposed anti-gay law in Arizona was struck down by Gov. Jan Brewer in February, but a previous discriminatory bill that targeted undocumented immigrants cost the state $140 million in revenue.

Ethiopia is another nation where homosexuality is a crime, often with devastating consequences. Today in The Boston Globe, Maria Sacchetti wrote about a 19-year-old Ethiopian man who is facing deportation in Boston after losing his student visa, but who maintains that his life would be put in jeopardy if sent back home. The State Department said that gays in Ethiopia face jail time, abuse and interrogation.

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http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/03/what-homophobia-costs-countrys-economy/359109/