Pass the Equality Act
Recommendation
Congress should pass the Equality Act, which would amend existing civil rights laws to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, education, public spaces and services, credit, and jury service.
Background/summary
The Equality Act is essential to combatting widespread discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, who lack consistent and comprehensive federal protections.[1][2] Approximately two-thirds of LGBTQ+ people have reported experiencing discrimination in their lives, and such discrimination can negatively impact their mental health, increasing their risk of depression, anxiety, and even suicidal thoughts and self-harm.[2]
Passing the Equality Act would help reduce discrimination, decreasing a significant risk factor for poor mental health. Research has shown that LGBTQ+ people who lived in states that allowed same-sex marriage (prior to it being legal nationwide) had lower rates of mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders than those who lived in states that did not allow same-sex marriage. The very existence of marriage equality – even if the sexual minority men were not partnered – reduced health care utilization and costs for mental and physical health.[3] Other research has found that marriage equality laws “shrank the mental health gap between sexual minorities and heterosexuals.”[4][5] Another study showed that lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals living in states with comprehensive legal protections have higher self-rated health than those living in states without these protections.[6]
citations
1. Equality Act. S. 5 (Merkley-Baldwin) and H.R. 15 (Takano-Adams), 118th Congress (2023-2024). Last Updated June 21, 2023.
2. Human Rights Campaign. The Equality Act. Last Accessed July 13, 2023.
3. Cornell University. What does the scholarly research say about the effects of discrimination on the health of LGBT people? Last Accessed July 13, 2023.
4. Mark L. Hatzenbuehler, PhD, Conall O'Cleirigh, PhD, Chris Grasso, MPH, Kenneth Mayer, MD, Steven Safren, PhD, and Judith Bradford, PhD. 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. Last Updated February 2012.
5. Shuai Chen and Jan C. van Ours. Mental health effects of same‐sex marriage legalization. Health Economics. Last Updated October 9, 2021.
6. Gilbert Gonzales and Jesse M. Ehrenfeld. The Association between State Policy Environments and Self-Rated Health Disparities for Sexual Minorities in the United States. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Last Updated June 1, 2018.