Advancing Sexual Orientation, Gender Ide

This course explores the economic development outcomes of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people worldwide, as well as strategies and approaches to promote their well-being through the international development sector. Despite some legal and social advances in the past two decades for some LGBTQ+ people, many continue to face widespread poverty, discrimination, and violence worldwide based on their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression (SOGIE). Economic development institutions are now expected to better include LGBTQ+ people in their analytical and programmatic agendas. The course considers the history of LGBTQ+ inclusion within the field of economic development, starting with the global HIV/AIDs epidemic and other social issues that have created entry points for these issues; the specific economic development challenges of the community; the current state of LGBTQ+ inclusion and the institutional response; the role of the private sector and the risks of “pink-washing”; and what lessons can be learned in terms of organizational and institutional change.