The Economic Case for LGBTQ+ Inclusion in the Caribbean
Combating homophobia and transphobia are economic and business imperatives, in addition to being a human rights mandate. This report sets out the data that demonstrates these imperatives for 12 countries in the English-speaking Caribbean: Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago .
The challenges that LGBT+ people in the Caribbean confront on a daily basis can be stark: state-sponsored homophobia and transphobia are prevalent, as is social stigma. As just two examples, nine of the 12 focus countries criminalize same-sex intimate acts, and none of them allows a change of sex or gender marker on state identification. Yet until now robust datasets on the extent and impact of these challenges have remained limited. Open For Business has thus undertaken significant mixed-methods data collection in order to deliver a range of estimates on the macroeconomic cost of exclusion. The findings are strong, and the costs are significant.
Many cultural and social movements in the Caribbean are encouraging an empowered outlook for the LGBT+ community. In this large and diverse region, civil society, the private sector and sometimes the courts are leading progressive change. This research taps into that momentum by also capturing the benefits of LGBT+ inclusion, couched in economic, business and social terms.
