The OECD analyses nationally representative surveys that include a question on sexual orientation and/or gender identity to document disparities in key areas such as education, employment, and health. Measuring these gaps helps us understand how much progress still needs to be made to ensure a level playing field. It also strengthens the economic argument for LGBTIQ+ inclusion by highlighting the potential GDP increase resulting from equal treatment of LGBTIQ+ adults, a crucial step in building societal support for the fair treatment of LGBTIQ+ people.
LGBTIQ+ inclusion
LGBTIQ+ inclusion is not just a question of basic human rights. It also brings substantial economic and social benefits, as excluding and under-valuing LGBTIQ+ talents in the labour market hampers overall economic growth. Beyond economic gains, promoting LGBTIQ+ equality helps advance gender equality, by challenging the societal norms that limit women’s empowerment.
Key messages
Protecting individuals based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, and intersex status isn't about giving special rights to LGBTIQ+ people. It's about making sure they have the same rights as everyone else, as set out in international human rights standards. The OECD has used these standards to identify a set of laws and complementary policies for countries to adopt. The OECD regularly analyzes the extent to which these laws and policies are in place in member countries. This benchmarking exercise is crucial for highlighting progress and challenges, and for facilitating peer learning across the OECD and within governments.
Monitoring and evaluation frameworks are essential to ensure the effective implementation of LGBTIQ+ inclusion strategies. They enable policy makers to track progress and assess whether interventions have been successful. For countries aiming for rigorous evaluation, the OECD offers support in applying the gold standard of impact assessment, namely randomised control trials. This is particularly valuable for policies whose positive impact might be at least partly offset by negative reactions or other unintended consequences.
Context
LGBTIQ+ equality is still a distant goal
Despite a shift towards greater acceptance of LGBTIQ+ people, discrimination continues to hamper equality of opportunity in many areas of social and economic life, such as education, employment and health.
For example, in the United States, where one in ten adults identify as LGBTIQ+, a nationally representative survey collecting information on both sexual orientation and gender identity highlights significant disparities, even after accounting for essential variables. These differences are evident across all subgroups of the LGBTIQ+ population, but are particularly large for transgender and non-binary people. For example, transgender and non-binary individuals were found to be more than twice as likely to not have a high school degree, and almost 90% more likely to have symptoms of anxiety and depression.
