Reamg the Argument on Gay Marriage | Psychology Today

Contents:

• TEN REASONS TO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE
• A GUI FOR GAY MEN ON BOTH OPEN AND MONOGAMO MARRIAGE
• GAY AND LBIAN WELL-BEG
• WHY NOT ALLOW GAY MARRIAGE?
• FDG OUT YOUR SPOE IS GAY
• GAY MARRIAGE: THE CULTURE WAR HAS JT BEGUN
• 5 THGS YOUR CHILD SHOULD KNOW ABOUT GAY MARRIAGE
• REAMG THE ARGUMENT ON GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE IS A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH
• RELIGN, SECULARISM, AND GAY MARRIAGE

TEN REASONS TO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE

The fai and iends of lbian and gay upl who are nied marriage rights may also experience negative physil and mental health nsequenc siar to those experienced by their loved on.

The vast majory of scientific studi that have directly pared lbian and gay parents wh heterosexual parents have nsistently shown that the same-sex upl are as f and pable parents as heterosexual upl, and that their children are jt as psychologilly healthy and well adjted.

A GUI FOR GAY MEN ON BOTH OPEN AND MONOGAMO MARRIAGE

Homosexualy is a normal part of adult sexualy; gay men and lbians posss the same potential and sire for staed lovg and lastg relatnships as heterosexuals, cludg lovg and parentg children. Laws that exclu lbian, gay and bisexual people om marriage e strs, and that strs negatively impacts physil and mental health, said Ilan Meyer, PhD, of Columbia Universy. Surveys nducted California showed that 75 percent of lbians and more than half of gay men were a relatnship wh one person, said Letia Anne Pepl, PhD, of the Universy of California, Los Angel.

GAY AND LBIAN WELL-BEG

Rearch shows that children raised by lbian and gay parents velop the same posive ways that children raised by heterosexual parents do, and that same-sex upl are jt as pable of providg a supportive environment for children, said Charlotte J. MDK: I began offerg workshops for gay, bisexual, and transgenr men about eighteen years’ ago, and after a uple of years there were always a few guys who me up to me and said ( whispered ton), “You’ve got to put this stuff a book. Same-sex marriage has been a long time g – a few thoand years or so - and now that ’s fally here, many gay, bisexual and transgenr men may thk that ’s a bad ia to “rock the boat” by discsg the kds of ias that this book prents.

While marriage wasn’t a possibily then, the qutns those workshops were basilly the same as those this book: as gay men, do we choose the monogamy of heterosexual marriage as our mol, or do we prefer an open marriage?

WHY NOT ALLOW GAY MARRIAGE?

As a psychotherapist for gay upl for many years’ now, ’s been que clear to me that “handbooks” for heterosexual marriage don’t really apply to our marriag several signifint ways: our marriag are more “signed” than “assumed. It is somewhat difficult to get a read on how wispread or succsful the prophylactic e of HIV treatment meditns is, but the movement of HIV preventn this directn as well as the hostile reactn by some, is revealg what is says about gay men and our general attus about sexualy.

Consirg that the Catholic Church, nservative Jews and many fundamentalist Christians have been the most outspoken opponents of gay rights, is perhaps not surprisg that LGB people and their fai intify relign as a major obstacle acceptg homosexualy, eher themselv or a fay member.

There are licensed mental health profsnals who practice "reparative" or "nversn" therapi signed to make gay people heterosexual, spe the evince that 's not only effective but damagg. Acrdg to a report by the Amerin Amy of Pediatrics, "A growg body of scientific lerature monstrat that children who grow up wh 1 or 2 gay and/or lbian parents fare as well emotnal, gnive, social, and sexual functng as do children whose parents are heterosexual.

FDG OUT YOUR SPOE IS GAY

Acrdg to the prs release for the issue, "Amendments that rtrict civil marriage rights of same-sex upl — such as Proposn 8 that recently passed California — have led to higher levels of strs and anxiety among lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr adults, as well as among their fai of orig, acrdg to several new studi to be published by the Amerin Psychologil Associatn.

Sharon Sl Rostosky, at the Universy of Kentucky, "The rults of this study monstrate that livg a state that has jt passed a marriage amendment is associated wh higher levels of psychologil strs for lbian, gay and bisexual cizens, " Rostosky said. We examed whether same-sex marriage was associated wh nonspecific psychologil distrs among self-intified lbian, gay, and bisexual adults, and whether had the potential to offset mental health dispari between lbian, gay, and bisexual persons and heterosexuals. Same-sex married lbian, gay, and bisexual persons were signifintly ls distrsed than lbian, gay, and bisexual persons not a legally regnized relatnship; married heterosexuals were signifintly ls distrsed than nonmarried heterosexuals.

GAY MARRIAGE: THE CULTURE WAR HAS JT BEGUN

In adjted pairwise parisons, married heterosexuals had the lowt psychologil distrs, and lbian, gay, and bisexual persons who were not legalized relatnships had the hight psychologil distrs (P <. Psychologil distrs was not signifintly distguishable among same-sex married lbian, gay, and bisexual persons, lbian, gay, and bisexual persons registered domtic partnerships, and heterosexuals.

Beg a legally regnized same-sex relatnship, marriage particular, appeared to dimish mental health differentials between heterosexuals and lbian, gay, and bisexual persons.

Rearchers mt ntue to exame potential health benefs of same-sex marriage, which is at least part a public health rearch monstrat that lbian, gay, and bisexual persons have worse mental health out than their heterosexual unterparts, highlightg important but poorly unrstood mental health dispari associated wh sexual orientatn. 1 For example, a meta-analysis of 4 s of rearch nclud that lbian, gay, and bisexual persons had higher rat of mental disorr, substance mise, suicidal iatn, and self-harm than did heterosexuals.

5 THGS YOUR CHILD SHOULD KNOW ABOUT GAY MARRIAGE

G., stigma or expectatns of rejectn, experienc of discrimatn, ternalized homophobia, the need for ncealment of sexual inty) might be at the root of this dispary bee they stra lbian, gay, and bisexual persons’ abili to adapt to and functn their everyday environments, creasg risks for poor mental health. 1Taken together, the 2 large bodi of work suggt that lbian, gay, and bisexual persons might be uniquely disadvantaged bee they endure sexual mory-related strsors and challeng not experienced by heterosexuals, and most parts of the Uned Stat, they are nied accs to legal marriage, which potentially uld enhance their mental health the same ways do for heterosexuals.

In 2009, the Amerin Medil Associatn officially regnized that excln om legal marriage among sexual mori ntribut to health re dispari same-sex hoeholds, 12 yet very ltle rearch has examed the potential mental health benefs of permtg lbian, gay, and bisexual persons to legally marry someone of the same sex. A 2005 law enhanced the stat of RDP to clu almost all of the state-provid rights and rponsibili of study analyzed populatn-based data om the 2009 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) to vtigate the associatn between legal marriage and mental health among heterosexual and lbian, gay, and bisexual adults aged 18 to 70 years, as well as the potential relatnship between same-sex marriage and mental health dispari based on sexual orientatn. Given the apparent mental health benefs of marriage found prev rearch, we hypothized that lbian, gay, and bisexual persons legal same-sex marriag and partnerships would experience better mental health than lbian, gay, and bisexual persons not same-sex legal relatnships.

Further, we hypothized that mental health dispari between lbian, gay, and bisexual persons and heterosexuals would be dimished when same-sex relatnship stat was taken to acunt, given the tangible and emotnal benefs that acce wh legal marriage. 19 Detailed rmatn about CHIS methodology n be found at the CHIS data qualy Web se () aged 70 years and younger were asked, “Do you thk of yourself as straight or heterosexual, as {gay/gay, lbian} or homosexual, or bisexual?

REAMG THE ARGUMENT ON GAY MARRIAGE

Associatns between relatnship stat and psychologil distrs, adjted for socmographic ntrols, were first asssed wh ordary least-squar SVY regrsn mols (wh-group lbian, gay, and bisexual associatn, wh-group heterosexual associatn, pooled lbian, gay, and bisexual–heterosexual associatn). 25TABLE 1—Weighted Characteristics of California Lbian, Gay, and Bisexual Persons and Heterosexuals Aged 18–70 Years 2009 by Legal Relatnship StatLbian, Gay, and BisexualHeterosexualCharacteristicsTotal, %Same-Sex Married (7. 22In the CHIS lbian, gay, and bisexual subsample, men outnumbered women, ethnicy and age were roughly parable to the California populatn, 26 nearly half had a llege gree or more, most spoke English their hom, were currently employed, had health surance, and had hoehold below the 2008 California median level.

Heterosexuals were roughly siar to lbian, gay, and bisexual persons, wh the exceptn of tn (lbian, gay, and bisexual persons were more ted) and English beg the primary language spoken at home (lbian, gay, and bisexual persons were more likely to live hom where English was the primary language). Comparisons among lbian, gay, and bisexual persons who reported beg legal same-sex marriag, RDPs, and neher of the legal arrangements revealed wi variatn for some characteristics (Table 1). Among lbian, gay, and bisexual persons, non-Hispanic Wh were disproportnately more likely than other ethnici to be eher type of legally regnized unn, as were late middle-aged persons and those wh more socenomic rourc (tn, employment, health surance, e).

As shown Table 2, mol 1, same-sex married lbian, gay, and bisexual persons were signifintly ls distrsed than lbian, gay, and bisexual persons not a same-sex legal relatnship. Mol 1 also showed that among lbian, gay, and bisexual persons, psychologil distrs was negatively associated wh beg male, olr, and currently employed, whereas was posively associated wh livg a home which English was the primary language spoken.

GAY MARRIAGE IS A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

Mol 1 acunted for 16% of the variance psychologil 2—Parameter Estimat (weighted) for Psychologil Distrs Among Californians Aged 18–70 Years 2009Inpennt VariablMol 1: Lbian, Gay, and Bisexual, b (SE)Mol 2: Heterosexual, b (SE)Mol 3: Pooled Lbian, Gay, and Bisexual Pl Heterosexual, b (SE)Legal relatnship stat Lbian, gay, and bisexual same-sex marriedab−1.

Mol 3 Table 2 shows that psychologil distrs was lower among married heterosexuals, unmarried heterosexuals, and same-sex married lbian, gay, and bisexual persons than among lbian, gay, and bisexual persons not a legally regnized relatnship (the omted reference group). 05) 3—Psychologil Distrs Sr (Ksler 6) by Legal Relatnship Stat among Californians Aged 18–70 Years 2009, Weighted and Adjted for Socmographic CharacteristicsLegal Relatnship StatLbian, Gay, and Bisexual, a Mean (SE)Heterosexual, b Mean (SE)Pooled, c Mean (SE)Lbian, gay, and bisexual same-sex married3. 005 to adjt for 10 parisons) dited that married heterosexuals had the lowt psychologil distrs, and lbian, gay, and bisexual persons who were not any legalized relatnship had the hight psychologil distrs, a signifint difference (P <.

Psychologil distrs was not signifintly distguishable among same-sex married lbian, gay, and bisexual persons, lbian, gay, and bisexual persons RDPs, and heterosexuals of any maral stat. Supplemental AnalysisBee there did not appear to be signifint differenc psychologil distrs between lbian, gay, and bisexual persons same-sex marriag and RDPs, supplemental analys of the lbian, gay, and bisexual analytil sample were nducted to tt associatns between each relatnship type and psychologil distrs when add dividually to the adjted mol. Th, although direct mental health differenc between same-sex marriage and RDP were not tected among lbian, gay, and bisexual persons, appears there might be a unique posive mental health associatn specifilly nferred by legal marriage, particularly pared wh not beg any type of legally regnized relatnship at all.

RELIGN, SECULARISM, AND GAY MARRIAGE

The data suggted that psychologil distrs might be lower among lbian, gay, and bisexual persons same-sex marriag pared wh those not any type of legally regnized same-sex unn. However, nsistent wh prev work, 14 supplemental analys suggted that same-sex marriage might be the more beneficial legal arrangement for lbian, gay, and bisexual persons terms of their mental health. Perhaps most importantly, fdgs addnally dited that there were no statistilly signifint differenc psychologil distrs between heterosexual dividuals and same-sex married lbian, gay, and bisexual persons and lbian, gay, and bisexual persons RDPs, and that persons each of the relatnship tegori had signifintly lower distrs sr than did lbian, gay, and bisexual persons not any type of legally regnized relatnship, of a range of socmographic ntrol variabl.

Legal regnn of same-sex relatnships, legal marriage particular, th appeared to have potential to offset mental health dispari between heterosexuals and lbian, gay, and bisexual persons.