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The economies of four East African countries are losing more than $5 billion a year because of discrimination against LGBTQ+ people.
The 80-page report that Open for Business, a coalition of leading global organizations that champion LGBTQ+ inclusion, released in late March focuses on Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. It attributes the losses to anti-homosexuality laws and predicts more economic costs if lawmakers implement other harsh anti-LGBTQ+ measures.
The report notes Uganda is losing $2.4 billion, or 5.2% of its GDP, annually because of the Anti-Homosexuality Act that took effect in 2023. Open for Business last October revealed the country had already lost $1.6 billion in foreign direct investment, donor aid, trade, tourism, public health and productivity after President Yoweri Museveni signed the law.
Kenya is losing $1.5 billion, or 1.38% of its GDP.
The report warns that enacting the pending Family Protection Bill would cost the country an additional $6.3 billion, or 5.8% of its GDP, annually. Opposition MP Peter Kaluma, who has introduced the measure, in January claimed the Biden-Harris administration had blocked it and vowed to have fellow MPs pass it after U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Kaluma is a strong supporter of Trump and the Republican Party’s opposition to LGBTQ+ rights and other far-right conservative ideologies.
Tanzania is losing $1.1 billion, or 1.33% of its GDP, because of anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination. Rwanda is losing $45 million, or .32% of its GDP.
Homosexuality is not illegal in Rwanda unlike the other three countries, but consensual same-sex sexual relationships remain taboo. Queer Rwandans also face stigma, discrimination, social exclusion and arbitrary detention.
“A series of private member bills in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania have threatened to pull the region back in terms of progress and human rights for LGBTQ+ people and damage both the ease of doing business and their international reputation,” states the Open for Business CEO Dominic Arnall.
Arnall notes his organization’s extensive engagement with businesses across East Africa over the last five years has always linked harmful anti-LGBTQ+ laws to impacts on a country’s investment prospects.
“The finding lays bare an uncomfortable truth: That laws that harm the LGBTQ+ community are standing in the way of prosperity and growth for all citizens in the region,” he said.
The report calls for LGBTQ+ inclusion as part of the region’s broader economic development agenda.
The Open for Business report notes anti-gay violence and discrimination in Tanzania has been on the rise since the late-President John Magufuli came to power in 2015. The country’s punitive anti-homosexuality law with a 30-year prison sentence for consensual same-sex sexual relations was already in place, but queer Tanzanians were generally not systematically targeted.
“Reporting of neighbors or community members for suspected homosexuality is frequent and law enforcement officers have been known to pose as members of the LGBTQ+ community to entrap and blackmail LGBTQ+ individuals,” states the report.
It also notes the Tanzanian government’s crackdown on websites and social media accounts that promote LGBTQ+ rights and threatening the arrests of administrators who allow such content. The report concludes this suppression has caused queer people to live in fear and isolation.
Religious organizations, particularly Christian churches in Tanzania, also champion anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric by encouraging their followers against tolerating homosexuality and transgender people. Meanwhile, politicians use anti-LGBTQ+ narratives to gain support during campaigns.
While Rwanda stands out as the only East African country in which homosexuality is not criminalized and has foreign donors implementing programs that target the queer community, discussing LGBTQ+ rights in public is rare and same-sex relationships are not legally recognized. The Open for Business report notes this situation creates legal ambiguity and a fragile social environment for queer Rwandans.
“Several LGBTQ+ rights organizations have emerged in recent years, mostly in Kigali, although they do not always identify themselves as LGBTQ+ associations and are rarely formally registered, making it difficult for them to receive funding,” reads the report.
The Rwandan government has rejected calls to criminalize homosexuality, which it considers a “private matter.” It has also been adamant against efforts to protect queer people for fear of domestic opposition and a desire not to politicize the issue like in neighboring countries.
Kenya, like Rwanda, has for a long time been considered more receptive of queer people, “as long as LGBTQ members are not ‘too loud.’”
Anyone convicted under Kenya’s colonial-era sodomy law could face up to 14 years in prison. Efforts to enact a harsh anti-homosexuality law and anti-LGBTQ+ protests that religious leaders, politicians and activists have organized have increased homophobia in the country.
“LGBTQ individuals report significant difficulties in securing formal employment, which pushes many of them into more precarious livelihoods in the informal sector,” states the report.
The National LGBT Media Association represents 13 legacy publications in major markets across the country with a collective readership of more than 400K in print and more than 1 million + online. Learn more here: NationalLGBTMediaAssociation.com.
