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- Research shows that quality of life for LGB members in areas of Australia where there’s higher level of ‘No’ votes for the same-sex marriage postal code, have received far less social support
- Legislation on favor of the LGB rights has a positive impact on health and wellbeing
According to one research conducted in Australia, there is a direct link between descrimination and poor health rates among lesbian, gay, and bisexual people.
In spite of the fact that it may seem obvious to the members of the LGB community who have been victims stigma and discrimination, very few studies have been conducted into the causes of poor health among LBG people, especially outside of the United States.
The positive results of last year’s same-sex marriage postal code in Australia is the factor that allowed the study to be a first of its kind in the country.
And yet, high levels of the anti-LGB stigma in various towns and cities in Australia were determined via the large amount of ‘No’, indicating the opposition to same-sex marriage.
The researchers also found that quality of life for LGB members in areas where there’s higher level of ‘No’ votes have received far less social support.
The study which was conducted by Francesco Parales and Abram Todd of the University of Queensland, compared data from the postal survey with data from the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia or HILDA survey.
It gathered 15,987 respondents wherein 554 citizens were identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. There was no inclusion of date regarding transgender and intersex people.
The researchers accessed data from the HILDA services regarding the mental and physical health of both heterosexual and LGB populations across the country.
Perales and Todd presented the results in a report entitled Structural Stigma and the Health and Wellbeing of Australian LGB Populations: Exploiting Geographic Variation in the Results of the 2017 Same-sex Marriage Plebiscite.
“Even within a relatively progressive country such as Australia, the lack of acceptance of LGB people and the dearth of social support that they receive are to a large extent responsible for their overall poor health and wellbeing,”
The study concludes by highlighting the necessity of legislation in favor of the LGB community, such as marriage equality, with notes to the positive impact social support has on health and wellbeing.
