In May of 2023, Uganda implemented an anti-LGBTQ+ law that outlawed any form of same-sex sexual relations and rocked the nation.
Aside from the life imprisonment it imposed — along with the death penalty for what Uganda referred to as “aggravated homosexuality” — it also cost the country’s economy up to $1.6 billion in a single year, according to research from the Open for Business coalition, which aims to demonstrate that LGBTQ+ inclusion is a core component of sustainable economic growth.
“There were so many very tangible costs that came in very quickly,” the organization’s CEO, Dominic Arnall, told me earlier this week. “That’s between 3% and 5% of its GDP.”