In the Supreme Court hearing for Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, lawyers for the baker argued that he should not have to sell a cake to a same-sex couple because his religion does not support same-sex marriage.
Debates around this case have referenced potential implications for the dignity of sexual minority populations, but in the absence of data to ground the conversation.
In a new study published in JAMA Psychiatry, we found that state laws permitting the denial of services to same-sex couples are associated with a 46 percent increase in mental distress among gay, lesbian, and bisexual adults.
The study sheds light on how the denial of services to same-sex couples — such as decorating a wedding cake, in the case currently before the Supreme Court — can harm health.
Our study takes advantage of a natural experiment created by implementation of laws permitting the denial of services to same-sex couples in some states and not in similar, nearby states. Gay, lesbian, and bisexual adults reported greater levels of mental distress at the beginning of the study in 2014, with 23.0 percent of those in the sample reporting mental distress, relative to 12.5 percent of heterosexual adults.
In states that implemented policies permitting the denial of services to same-sex couples in 2015, mental distress among gay, lesbian, and bisexual adults increased from 21.9 percent to 32.8 percent, a 10.9 percentage point increase from 2014 to 2016. In contrast, mental distress increased just 0.8 percentage points among heterosexual adults in the same states and by 1.3 percentage points for gay, lesbian, and bisexual adults in control states during the same time period.
In the final analysis, laws permitting the denial of services to same sex couples were associated with a 46 percent relative increase in mental distress among gay, lesbian, and bisexual adults compared to other groups.
Read the full story at The Hill
