Discrimination of Sexual Minorities in Emerging Markets: Can the Needle Be Moved?
INSTITUTIONS ACROSS THE WORLD
Recent advances in rights for lesbians, gay men, and bisexual individuals (LGB) have varied substantially across the world. This article provides new evidence on the determinants of support for sexual minorities in Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine – three emerging markets with some of the lowest rates of social acceptance of sexual minorities in Europe.
Key Messages
- Providing information about the economic cost of sexual orientation discrimination significantly increases support for measures to safeguard equal employment opportunities for lesbians and gays
- Treatment effect spills over to support for equal employment opportunities based on ethnic origin, religious beliefs, nationality, gender, and disability, but not to LGB support in other aspects of life
- Informing people that according to the WHO homosexuality is not a mental disease does not cause more support for equal employment opportunities, but does result in improved attitudes about sexual minorities in non-economic aspects of life. Effects are concentrated among those individuals who trust the WHO
- Political actors wanting to achieve the policy goal of expanding non-discrimination employment protections should consider information campaigns that stress the costs of discrimination as opposed to trying to change more fundamental views about homosexuality
Series
Links
Citation
Cevat Giray Aksoy, Christopher S. Carpenter, Ralph De Haas, Mathias Dolls, Lisa Windsteiger: “Discrimination of Sexual Minorities in Emerging Markets: Can the Needle Be Moved?,” EconPol Forum 24 (3), CESifo, Munich, 2023.