currentsinbiology:

LGBTQ social policy can be a life or death issue.

Drop in teenage suicide attempts linked to legalisation of same-sex marriage

Legalisation of same-sex marriage in US states has been linked to a drop in suicide attempts among teenagers.

Researchers say suicide attempts among high school students fell by
an average of 7% following the implementation of the legislation. The
impact was especially significant among gay, lesbian and bisexual
teenagers, for whom the passing of same-sex marriage laws was linked to a
14% drop in suicide attempts.

Julia Raifman, co-author of the research from Johns Hopkins
University, said she hoped the research would help to draw wider
attention to the scale of the issue among sexual minorities. “I would
hope that policymakers and the public would consider the potential
health implications of laws and policies affecting LGBT rights,” she added.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
suicide is the second leading cause of death for those aged between 15
and 24, with suicide rates much higher among those who identify as
sexual minorities than heterosexual students.

“This study was really motivated by evidence that there are large
disparities across domains of health that affect LGBT adolescents,” said
Raifman. “I was interested in whether larger structural issues were
potentially leading to those disparities.”

In states where same-sex marriage legalisation was passed, suicide
attempts fell by four percentage points on average, corresponding to a
14% drop compared to states where it was not.
Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images