For more than a decade, the OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs (ELS) has been deeply involved in helping OECD countries be more inclusive of their increasingly diverse components thanks to its work on gender equality, ageing and employment, the labour market integration of youth, the inclusion of disabled people, or the integration of immigrants and their families. Since 2016, following a Call to Action signed by 12 member countries, ELS is also spearheading the OECD work on the inclusion of LGBTI people, i.e. lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender and intersex individuals.

Ensuring that LGBTI people – i.e. lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender and intersex individuals – can live as who they are without being discriminated against or attacked should concern us all, for at least three reasons. The first and most important reason is obviously ethical. Sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics are integral aspects of our selves. Guaranteeing that LGBTI people are not condemned to forced concealment or to retaliation when their identity is revealed is crucial for them to live their lives as themselves, without pretence. The second reason is economic. Discrimination against LGBTI people hinders economic development through a wide range of channels. For instance, it causes lower investment in human capital due to LGBTI-phobic bullying at school as well as poorer returns on educational investment in the labour market. Anti-LGBTI discrimination also reduces economic output by excluding LGBTI talents from the labour market and impairing their mental and physical health, hence their productivity. The third reason why LGBTI inclusion should constitute a top policy priority is social. LGBTI inclusion is viewed as conducive to the emergence of less restrictive gender norms that improve gender equality broadly speaking.

This introductory chapter summarises the report’s findings on the extent to which laws in OECD countries ensure equal treatment of LGBTI people, and on the complementary policies that could help foster LGBTI inclusion. The report first defines the legislative and regulatory framework that is critical for the inclusion of sexual and gender minorities and then explores whether these laws are in force in OECD countries. It reveals that the road to LGBTI inclusion is not over the rainbow: all OECD countries have been making progress over the last two decades. But they are still only halfway to full legal inclusion of LGBTI individuals. Finally, the report sets out broader policy measures that should accompany LGBTI-inclusive laws in order to strengthen the inclusion of LGBTI people.

OECD Member countries have signed and ratified many treaties, conventions and charters which embody international human rights standards relevant for LGBTI people. They are also influenced by the many non-binding recommendations and reports on LGBTI equality published by key human rights stakeholders. This chapter first presents these stakeholders, i.e. the European Union, the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the Organisation of American States. The chapter then focuses on the LGBTI-inclusive laws that result from applying international human rights standards to LGBTI issues. It deals with general provisions that are relevant for the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people altogether, before turning to group-specific provisions that aim to address the unique challenges faced by subgroups of the LGBTI population.

This chapter takes an in-depth look at the extent to which laws critical to LGBTI equality have been passed in OECD countries as of 30 June 2019. The chapter first elaborates on the measurement of legal LGBTI inclusivity, defined as the share of LGBTI-inclusive laws that are in force among the set of legal provisions introduced in Chapter 2. The chapter then analyses levels and trends in legal LGBTI inclusivity, OECD-wide and by country, including how legal LGBTI inclusivity relates to social acceptance of LGBTI people, gender equality and economic development. Finally, the chapter proposes a realistic country-specific sequence of next steps in order to improve legal LGBTI inclusivity, along with guidance on passing some LGBTI-inclusive laws based on good practices from OECD countries and beyond.

This chapter presents the broader policy measures that should accompany the LGBTI-inclusive laws defined and analysed in Chapters 2 and 3 in order to strengthen the inclusion of LGBTI people. Based on a detailed analysis of ongoing national action plans, this chapter identifies the following four key policies – and illustrates how to implement them through a wide range of best practice examples: (i) collecting information on sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics; (ii) enforcing LGBTI-inclusive antidiscrimination, hate crime/hate speech and asylum laws, e.g. through training police officers on properly dealing with hate crimes targeting LGBTI people; (iii) fostering a culture of equal treatment in education, employment and health care, beyond enforcing laws prohibiting discrimination in these fields; and (iv) creating and maintaining popular support for LGBTI inclusion, e.g. through well-designed awareness-raising activities among the general public.