The Global Index on Legal Recognition of Homosexual Orientation (GILRHO), is being developed by Kees Waaldijk at Leiden University, with the help of many others. It is work in progress, covering... Show moreThe Global Index on Legal Recognition of Homosexual Orientation (GILRHO), is being developed by Kees Waaldijk at Leiden University, with the help of many others. It is work in progress, covering all 200 currently-independent countries of the world for every year since 1961.In GILRHO, for each year, countries can be given index points for eight categories of laws: decriminalization (one point for legalization of sex between same-sex adults, and one for equalization of the age of consent), anti-discrimination legislation (one point for an explicit prohibition in the field of employment, and one for this in the field of goods and services), and couple recognition (one point for recognition of same-sex cohabitation, one for introduction of registered partnership, one for allowing adoption by same-sex partner(s), and one for opening up marriage to them). So a maximum of eight points, with a half point given if the relevant law is or was only applicable in part(s) of a country.A full description of the methodology of GILRHO, and an analysis of its interaction with GDP per capita, can be found in the open access article: MVL Badgett, K Waaldijk & Y van der Meulen Rodgers, ‘The relationship between LGBT inclusion and economic development: Macro-level evidence’ (120 World Development, August 2019, p. 1-14, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X19300695). More information about the sources and construction of GILRHO is provided in the report: MVL Badgett, S Nezhad, K Waaldijk & Y van der Meulen Rodgers, The relationship between LGBT inclusion and economic development: An analysis of emerging economies (2014, Washington DC and Los Angeles, CA: USAID and The Williams Institute; https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/lgbt-inclusion-economic-dev). A short explanation of GILRHO in Dutch, in relation to public opinion, can be found in the paper: K Waaldijk, ‘Van strafbaar tot huwbaar – homorecht wereldwijd’ (2015, https://hdl.handle.net/1887/37242).GILRHO has been developed on the basis of constantly improving versions of a footnoted legal dataset originally presented in the paper: K Waaldijk, ‘Legal recognition of homosexual orientation in the countries of the world’ (2009 conference The Global Arc of Justice at UCLA; Los Angeles, CA: The Williams Institute, http://hdl.handle.net/1887/14543). Since then the legal dataset has been expanded and corrected on the basis of many sources (including the annual reports on State-Sponsored Homophobia published since 2006 by ILGA (the International Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans and Intersex Association, https://ilga.org/state-sponsored-homophobia-report). The legal dataset has not yet been published.Parts of the numerical index data of GILRHO (as they were by 2014) have now been published. First the provisional index data for 39 countries over the years 1980-2014 were published in the 2014 report by Badgett et al. (mentioned above, p. 60-61). And later the provisional index data for 132 countries for the years 1966-2011 have been published in the data file accompanying the 2019 article by Badgett et al. (mentioned above, spreadsheet in Appendix A, which also contains other data from other sources); this data file is also attached here. The published numerical index data of GILRHO and its underlying legal dataset are subject to further corrections and updates. Over the coming years, more comprehensive versions of GILRHO and of its legal dataset will be published. Show less
Badgett, M.V.L.; Waaldijk, K.; Meulen Rodgers, Y. van der 2019
This study analyzes the relationship between social inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and economic development. It uses legal and economic data for 132 countries... Show moreThis study analyzes the relationship between social inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and economic development. It uses legal and economic data for 132 countries from 1966 to 2011. Previous studies and reports provide substantial evidence that LGBT people are limited in their human rights in ways that also create economic harms, such as lost labor time, lost productivity, underinvestment in human capital, and the inefficient allocation of human resources. This analysis uses a fixed effects regression approach and a newly-created dataset – Global Index on Legal Recognition of Homosexual Orientation (GILRHO) – to assess how these detriments are related to the macroeconomy. Our study finds that an additional point on the 8-point GILRHO scale of legal rights for LGB persons is associated with an increase in real GDP per capita of approximately $2000. A series of robustness checks confirm that this index continues to have a positive and statistically significant association with real GDP per capita after controlling for gender equality. In combination with the qualitative evidence from previous studies and reports, our quantitative results suggest that LGBT inclusion and economic development are mutually reinforcing. Also, a back-of-the-envelope estimate suggests that about 6% to 22% of the finding could reflect the costs to GDP of health and labor market stigmatization of LGB people. Results from this study can help to better understand how the fuller enjoyment of human rights by LGBT people can contribute to a country’s economic development.The dataset used for this article, including the 1966-2011 data of the Global Index on Legal Recognition of Homosexual Orientation (GILRHO) for 132 countries, is available in Appendix A to this article (under “Download Spreadsheet”). Show less
