Homophobia is costing anti-gay countries billions, report says

Countries with anti-gay laws are losing out on billions of dollars in tourism, investment and international aid according to a new report.

The report, The Economic Cost of Homophobia, was launched in the House of Lords on Tuesday by the Peter Tatchell Foundation.

The Economic Cost of Homophobia uses data from the 71 countries that continue to criminalise LGBT people and analyses the financial impacts of anti-gay legislation.

With Lord Fowler & the @PT_Foundation team at the House of Lords to launch our
report showing the economic costs of homophobia: lost tourism, aid, investment. Homophobia undermines the economies of anti-LGBT+ countries. #HomophobiaCosts. READ the report: https://t.co/nLTy7938LL pic.twitter.com/3gWhOs5Qfl

— Peter Tatchell (@PeterTatchell) 19 June 2018

At the launch, Peter Tatchell said that the Foundation’s report focused upon the economic impact because he had previously found the financial arguments more convincing to some than the human rights aspects.

The report focused on a number of key areas, including tourism, migration, investment and international aid.

According to the World Tourism Organisation, the LGBT tourism industry is worth over $211 billion, with most of this being spent in countries with positive stances on LGBT rights, notably Australia, the UK, Canada, France, and the US.

In 2017, Australia legalised same-sex marriage (Cole Bennetts/Getty Images)

The report goes on to use Uganda as an example of the impact that anti-gay legislation can have on an economy.

The report highlights that when the Ugandan parliament passed the controversial Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act in 2013, several governments withdrew international aid.