Study: Gay Health Imperiled By Denial Of Marriage

Study: Gay Health Imperiled By Denial Of Marriage
by Mark Worrall
February 28, 2006 - 3:00 pm ET

(San Francisco, California) A new national study shows widespread psychological and social harm inflicted on same-sex couples because they are denied the right to marry.

The study, called "I Do, But I Can't" was released at a San Francisco news conference Tuesday by the National Sexuality Resource Center and is the first first peer-reviewed study to analyze the impact of marriage denial on the mental health and well being of gay men and lesbians.

The co-authors are Gilbert Herdt, PhD, anthropologist, and director of the National Sexuality Resource Center at San Francisco State University, and Robert Kertzner, MD, practicing psychiatrist, and Adjunct Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University.

They found that on average, married individuals have better mental health, more emotional support, less psychological distress, and lower rates of psychiatric disorder than the unmarried.

Married individuals report more emotional support and are more likely to have a close confidant than the unmarried. Effects of emotional support seem to provide protection against the negative health consequences of stress the authors say.

"Marriage denial creates what experts call minority stress, the psychological effects of constant discrimination that bars individuals from the legitimate means of achieving goals that are valued by the society in which they live," said Herdt.

"Lesbians and gay men work just as hard as heterosexuals do in creating and maintaining committed relationships, but they do not get the same tangible benefits."

The study also found that heterosexual networks are subtle but critical mechanisms that support marriage.

A case study of a town in rural Oregon revealed how heterosexuals routinely relied on churches, schools, and neighborhood visibility to secure or enhance jobs, access social support such as childcare, and form local political alliances. A same-sex couple residing in the same town was shut out of this structure of opportunities.

Minority group members were seen as disadvantaged in attaining monetary success because of exclusion from common social structures. For lesbians and gay men, marriage denial leads to a similar minority group disjunction between goals and opportunities the report says.

Herdt and Kertzner also found that the lack of legally recognized marriage contributes to common problems for gay and lesbian couples. Couples may not value their relationships as legitimate expressions of commitment and intimate sexual citizenship; lack of recognition of their relationships deprives them of social and family support that could help counteract stress and social isolation; invisibility can perpetuate stigma and shame and undermine a sense of life meaning, morale, and well being.

The report said that discrimination and fear of discovery can undermine relationships if the partners do not have internal ways of countering the social stigma of homosexuality.

At Tuesday's press a lesbian couple, Leah Crask and Teresa Weeks, said they feel they constantly have to prove to the world that they are a committed couple.

They said that they registered as domestic partners in San Francisco and were able to marry there on March 1, 2004 while that city briefly allowed gay and lesbian couples to wed.

The women said that they decided to start a family, only to have their marriage invalidated.

They currently are in the process of a second-parent adoption so Teresa can be a legal parent to their nine-month-old son, Caden.

"The stress we experience because we're not married affects us and our child but also our extended family, including Caden's grandparents, who worry about his future."

A gay man, Stuart Gaffney, told reporters about himself and his long-time partner, Jonathan Lewis.

"When we were able to marry in San Francisco, the burden of shame was lifted away. We had a taste of all we had missed. Thirty days later our marriage was invalidated and we felt the shame placed back upon us," Gaffney said.

"The stigma and harm caused by denying committed lesbian and gay couples the choice to marry fuels a vicious cycle," added Herdt.

"Fictitious stereotypes attribute promiscuity to gay men and lesbians, fueling the false belief that they are immoral and reinforcing in the minds of critics the ineligibility of lesbians and gay men for marriage and parenthood. The new proliferation of this old prejudice through the denial of marriage by sexual orientation, like all injustice, is harmful to us all."

The findings of the report come as no surprise to people engaged in mental health in the gay community.

Earlier this month 365Gay.com reported that a counseling center that provides psychotherapy services to Austin's LGBT community found that the constitutional amendment passed by Texas voters last November is taking a toll on the mental of health of gays and lesbians in the state.

"After the election and through December, we are aware that the number of clients that we're dealing with who have suicidal thoughts and behaviors or actions really dramatically increased," Derek Leighton with Waterloo Counseling Center said.

Leighton said that people feel feel disenfranchised and discarded. Even center Executive Director Gail Goodman said she has been affected by the outcome of the vote.

"I felt betrayed, and I felt alone. The feeling that 90 percent of Texas didn't value me. It wasn't about whether I wanted to get married or not. It was more about Texas saying, 'You're not OK,'" Goodman said, adding that she and her partner of 11 years, Lynne Milburn, feel unsafe and have thought about moving to another state.

Meanwhile, a British study has found that legalized same-sex unions boosts both the mental and physical health of gays and lesbians.

The researchers, writing in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, say that studies of opposite-sex married couples tend to show that married people seem to have better physical and psychological health than single people

They also say that unmarried people have increased rates of all cause mortality compared with married people.

The study was prepared by Michael King, a specialist in Primary Care Psychiatry at Royal Free and University College Medical School and Annie Bartlett of the Department of Mental Health at St George's Hospital Medical School in London.

They say that civil partnerships, such as those legalized last year in the UK, should follow the same trends.

The researchers also say that legalized gay unions tend to break down prejudices.

Pointing to previous studies which suggest that gay men and lesbians do not receive the same standard of health care as straight people because of medical prejudice the authors say that acceptance of gay couples will open the door to greater understanding.

They point to Denmark, the first country to introduce civil partnerships for same sex couples in 1989, other EU countries and Canada where gay marriage is legal to show that gays and lesbians tend to get better medical service.

Rates of depression, anxiety, substance misuse, and suicidal behavior are also all higher among gay men and women than straight people. Discrimination, prejudice and intolerance on religious grounds are likely to be partly to blame for this, say the authors.

The researchers say that legalized gay marriage and civil partnerships are likely to increase the stability of same sex relationships and minimize the social exclusion to which gay and lesbian people are often subjected.

 

I'd say it's almost definitely true that a big factor in gay and lesbian relationships faltering in the long-term is a lack of any way to cement them. All couples go through hard times, but you're less likely to jack in a relationship if you have a sign of commitment on your finger to remind you.

 

Hi SelfControl,

I can agree with that. I also think it cements it for those people around the couple as well.

 

A link regarding the recent British study on this subject:

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-481.html