Libertarians are So Gay!
The economics of LGBTQ rights
I have a confession to make, and some of you may not like it.
But I refuse to stay in the closet any longer.
The way I see it, if you truly love me now, you’ll also love me when I tell you this …
I lean Libertarian.
Now before you clutch your fake pearls or accuse me of being “far right,” hear me out.
You see, I first discovered the value of Libertarianism in the mid-90s after I heard the term “personal sovereignty,” which is one of the key pillars of this philosophy.
Personal sovereignty is the acknowledgement that you hold the ultimate authority over your life. Your body and your mind is owned by you. Not anyone else, and certainly not the government. So I thought it fitting to opine on personal sovereignty today in honor of Pride Month. After all, if you find the basic fundamentals of personal sovereignty to be sound, then you must support the right of individuals to choose who they’re in a relationship with. And without the threat of violence or unjust laws.
Now, historically, Libertarians have been outspoken allies of the LGBTQ community. In fact, the Libertarian party endorsed LGBTQ rights in its first platform in 1972. That’s more than 50 years ago. Back when both Democrat and Republican platforms ignored, or even attacked equal rights for the LGBTQ community. Back when some states even had laws criminalizing same-sex relationships.
In that 1972 platform, you can find the following excerpt …
“We hold that no action which does not infringe the rights of others can properly be termed a crime. We favor the repeal of all laws creating "crimes without victims" now incorporated in Federal, state and local laws -- such as laws on voluntary sexual relations …”
LGBTQ Rights are Moral and Economic Imperatives
While you may not agree with all of the tenets of Libertarianism, to ignore the ones that do align with your own values and beliefs about personal sovereignty and LGBTQ rights does a tremendous disservice to the quest for human rights, as well as the quest for a healthy economy.
Let me explain …
About ten years ago, there was a fascinating study published by a group of researchers from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law
The study analyzed the impact of the treatment of the LGBTQ community on economic development in 39 emerging economies and other selected countries, and found that there was a verifiable link between LGBT rights and economic output.
Researchers also found that human rights violations experienced by the LGBTQ community diminished economic output.
Here’s an excerpt from that report …
The micro-level analysis found substantial evidence that LGBT people in our sample countries are limited in their freedoms in ways that also create economic harms:
Police officers unjustly arrest, detain, jail, beat, humiliate, and extort LGBTQ people, taking LGBTQ people out of productive employment.
LGBTQ people face disproportionate rates of physical, psychological, and structural violence, which can restrict someone’s ability to work because of physical injuries and psychological trauma.
Workplace discrimination causes LGBTQ people to be unemployed or underemployed, which means their full productive capacity is not being used.
LGBTQ people face multiple barriers to physical and mental health, which reduces their ability to work and their productivity in the workplace.
LGBTQ students face discrimination in schools by teachers and other students, which hampers their learning and encourages students to drop out, in turn reducing their skills and knowledge related to the workplace.
At this micro-level, the costs to the economy of just these five examples of exclusionary treatment include lost labor time, lost productivity, underinvestment in human capital, and the inefficient allocation of human resources through discrimination in education and hiring practices. The decreased investment in human capital and suboptimal use of human resources, in turn, act as a drag on economic output at the broader economy level.
The macro-level analysis reveals a clear positive correlation between per capita GDP and legal rights for LGBTQ and transgender people across countries, as measured by the Global Index on Legal Recognition of Homosexual Orientation (GILRHO) and the Transgender Rights Index (TRI) respectively. The simplest correlation shows that one additional right in the GILRHO (out of eight rights included) is associated with $1,400 more in per capita GDP and with a higher HDI (Human Development Index) value. In other words, countries with more rights for LGBT people have higher per capita income and higher levels of well-being.
You can read the entire report here: https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/lgbt-inclusion-economic-dev/
Of course, protecting and defending the rights of our LGBTQ friends and family doesn’t have to be about political affiliations or economic analyses. It’s really just about not being an asshole and raising your kids to also not be assholes. Which is why my family and I attend Pride every year. And we will continue to be allies to the LGBTQ community because, well, we’re not assholes.
Here we are at last year’s Pride celebration in Burlington, VT.
What I’m reading …
Malaysia Rejects LGBTQ Culture, Orders Probe into Pride Event: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-29/malaysia-rejects-lgbtq-culture-orders-probe-into-pride-event
Hungary's anti-LGBTQ law broke EU rules: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/hungarys-anti-lgbtq-law-broke-eu-rules-court-advisor/articleshow/121645611.cms
US Supreme Court to weigh use of children's books with LGBTQ themes: https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20250422-us-supreme-court-to-weigh-use-of-children-s-books-with-lgbtq-themes