New Research Counters Myth That Banning Discrimination Against LGBT People Is “Economically Harmful”

Researchers Found Innovators Flock To States That Prevent Discrimination Against LGBT Workers

Recently published research highlighted by the Harvard Business Review found that states with laws that ban employment discrimination against LGBT Americans saw a direct increase in business innovation — counter to right-wing media myths that such laws result in negative interference in the market.

According to a study published on June 15 by the journal Management Science, “state-level employment nondiscrimination acts (ENDAs) — laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity — spur innovation” among firms headquartered in those states. The study’s authors — finance professor Huasheng Gao and economist Wei Zhang — published an op-ed on August 17 in the Harvard Business Review highlighting their findings that states that protect employees with ENDAs see an increase in innovators moving to those states and a boost in business productivity. The research found that “firms headquartered in states that passed ENDAs experienced an 8% increase in the number of patents and an 11% increase in the number of patent citations, relative to firms headquartered in states that did not pass such a law.” The researchers concluded that this change was a result of individuals moving based on their approval or disapproval of the change in the law and theorized that “pro-LGBT individuals are likely to be more creative than the anti-LGBT ones” leading to companies in states that prohibit workplace discrimination having broader access to more creative talent…