Except for the fact that you agree with one ('cos it's "a good thing") and disagree with the other ('cos it's "a bad thing"), what are these differences?
> some people made the call to continue making a buck by empowering a homophobic and dangerous group.
For an LGBT person, it's better to be in the US than in the UAE [0][1].
If you want that to change in the short run, you're out of luck — it's not realistic to assume it will change soon.
If you want that to change in the long run, the way to do that is to have more contact (including trade) with the UAE.
[0] Mind you, it's better still to be LGBT in the UAE than in Afghanistan or Iran!
[1] For a sick child from a poor family who needs lots and lots of healthcare, it's the opposite.
