Study: Anti-LGBTQ laws cost Caribbean up to $4.2BN a year

A new report by Open for Business found that Caribbean nations are losing billions of dollars in missing tourism, productivity and competitiveness each year to laws that discriminate against LGBTQ people.

Discrimination against LGBTQ people costs English-speaking Caribbean countries as much as $4.2bn a year, Open for Business (OFB), a coalition of companies advocating for LGBTQ equity, says in a report released on Wednesday. The research highlights what OFB has termed “the decriminalisation dividend”, said Jon Miller, partner at the Brunswick Group and founder of Open for Business. “Countries that decriminalise [same-sex acts] are creating better economic conditions,” Miller told Al Jazeera. “They’re more productive, more competitive, more entrepreneurial [and] more attractive to tourists.”