We Know Marriage Is Good For Straight Men’s Health, But What About Gay Men?
Dr. Justin J. Lehmiller Posted on Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 9:20AM 
Researchers have known for years that marriage seems to give straight men a long-term health boost. For example, just consider that unmarried heterosexual men have a 250% greater mortality risk than their married peers.1 In other words, unmarried guys tend to die much sooner than would be statistically expected relative to married men. But is marriage linked to better health among gay men too? Given that legal recognition for same-sex relationships is a relatively recent development, researchers have only now begun to look into this question. Although it is too soon to say whether there are any long-term health benefits of marriage for gay men, recent research suggests that just the act of extending equal marriage rights to same-sex couples may yield health benefits in and of itself.
For instance, in one recent study, gay and bisexual men’s visits to a local health center in Massachusetts were tracked for the one year period after marriage rights were extended to same-sex couples in that state. Researchers looked at over 1,200 patients and considered the number of visits they made for both medical and mental health needs. Over the course of that year, there was a significant decrease in the number of times gay and bisexual men sought care for medical and mental health issues.
What is especially interesting about these findings is that this decrease in healthcare use occurred for both partnered and unpartnered men; thus, the medical benefits were not necessarily specific to those in relationships. Given the nature of these data, we cannot definitely say why that was the case, but one interpretation is that the legalization of gay marriage was part of a broader movement toward increased acceptance of sexual minorities, which ultimately reduced stress on the entire gay and bisexual community. As a result, it was something that stood to benefit everyone.
Future research is needed to explore the potential long-term implications of marriage for health among sexual minorities and to extend this work to lesbian and bisexual women. For now, however, it appears that just granting the option of legal marriage to the sexual minority community is linked to a measurable improvement in their health outcomes.
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1 Ross. C. E., Mirowsky, J., & Goldsteen, K. (1990). The impact of the family on health: The decade in review. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 52, 1059-1078.
2Hatzenbuehler, M. L., O’Cleirigh, C., Grasso, C., Mayer, K., Safren, S., & Bradford, J. (in press). Effect of same-sex marriage laws on health care use and expenditures in sexual minority men: A quasi-natural experiment. American Journal of Public Health. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2011.300382
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Entries in sexual orientation (10)
Why Are Some People Against Same-Sex Marriage?
Dr. Justin J. Lehmiller Posted on Monday, May 14, 2012 at 6:00AM
Everyone was talking about same-sex marriage last week. First, voters in North Carolina approved a constitutional amendment banning legal recognition of same-sex relationships. Just a day later, even bigger news was made when President Obama publicly stated his support for extending marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples. All of this talk about same-sex marriage got me thinking about why so much variability exists in people’s attitudes toward this issue and, particularly, why some people are so resistant to it. Of course, religion plays a very large role in determining people’s views on marriage. However, research suggests that there may also be some important psychological processes underlying opposition to marriage equality.
Sex Question Friday: Are Women More Likely To Be Bisexual Than Men?
Dr. Justin J. Lehmiller Posted on Friday, May 4, 2012 at 7:00AM
Every Friday on the blog, I answer sex questions submitted to me by actual college students. This week, we’re talking about bisexuality. Many students have asked me whether it is really possible for someone to be attracted to both men and women (a question I have previously answered here). However, the student who asked this week’s question wanted to know whether there is a difference between male and female bisexuality.
I have heard of research that determined men can only be attracted to one sex whereas women can legitimately be bisexual. Is this true?
Sex Question Friday: What Does a Gay Brain Look Like?
Dr. Justin J. Lehmiller Posted on Friday, April 20, 2012 at 8:00AM
Every Friday on the blog, I answer sex questions submitted to me by actual college students. This week’s question hits on a topic many people are curious about: the origin of homosexuality. Although we don’t know with certainty why variations in sexual orientation exist, there is growing evidence that biology is one of the biggest contributors. In this article, we will explore some of the science supporting this point.
Is a homosexual’s brain different from a heterosexual’s brain?
Are Homophobic People Repressing Their Own Same-Sex Desires?
Dr. Justin J. Lehmiller Posted on Monday, April 9, 2012 at 8:00AM
The idea that homophobia stems from fears of one’s own homosexuality has received a lot of public validation in recent years. From evangelical preacher Ted Haggard, to former Senator Larry Craig, to psychologist George Reckers (one of the leading proponents of “reparative therapy,” a discredited method some people claim is capable of “curing” homosexuality), some of those who have been fighting hardest against LGBT rights have wound up embroiled in gay sex scandals of their own. Naturally, many of us wonder why. A new set of studies suggests that this type of hypocrisy may be traced back to the way these individuals were raised by their parents.1
Sex Question Friday: Do Committed Couples Have Better Sex? Does the “Pull and Pray” Method Work? And Can You Change Your Sexuality?
Dr. Justin J. Lehmiller Posted on Friday, March 16, 2012 at 8:00AM
Every Friday on the blog, I answer a few burning sex questions submitted to me by actual college students. This week, we’re talking about whether married couples have better sex than single people, whether the pull-out method of birth control actually works, and whether it’s possible to change your sexual orientation if you don't like it.
Sex Question Friday: How Long it Takes to Reach Orgasm, the Sexuality Spectrum, and the Sexual Double Standard
Dr. Justin J. Lehmiller Posted on Friday, March 2, 2012 at 10:00AM
Every Friday on the blog, I answer a few burning sex questions submitted to me by actual college students. This week, we’re going to talk about how long it takes men and women to achieve orgasm, whether sexual orientation exists on a continuum, and the societal double standard applied to women who are sexually promiscuous.
How Do Men’s and Women’s Sexual Fantasies Differ?
Dr. Justin J. Lehmiller Posted on Wednesday, February 29, 2012 at 8:00AM
A few weeks back, I posted a Top 10 List of Sexual Fantasies, which contained a set of fun fantasies people have anonymously submitted to me over the years. As you read through the list, you probably found that it was easy to identify which fantasies were written by men (e.g., “Hot tub filled with whipped cream, pudding, and multiple blondes”) and which were written by women (e.g., “We're out for a drive in the country and it starts to rain. We pull into the driveway at home and my partner pulls me into the barn, where we make love on a bale of hay as the rain continues outside”). A few fantasies were more challenging to place, but the majority of them were pretty simple because they largely conformed to gender stereotypes. So is this typically the case when it comes to sexual fantasies? Are men's and women's fantasies really that different?
Reader Comments (2)
Over and over we find that social acceptance and reduced social stress leads to greater health for all people. It is always odd to me then, that when the media talks about health, it focuses only on the biological (lose weight! Get cholesterol checked!) but not on the really crucial social/cultural aspects like finding supportive community, and arguing for a reduction in minority stress. Thanks for this helpful post!
You are absolutely right, Jayme. Social and cultural factors both play a huge role in determining health, but they often do not receive the research and media attention that they deserve. This is especially true when trying to understand the health status of racial and sexual minority groups. The worse health outcomes typically reported by minority group members are not a simple function of their biology--at least some of this is due to stressful encounters with prejudice and discrimination.