On June 26, 2015 the US Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage and officially recognized the constitutional right of Americans to register same-sex unions across the country. This historic step was preceded by the trial of James Obergefell who sued the state of Ohio because it had refused to recognize him to be the widower of the deceased husband, with whom Obergefell got married 20 years ago before the state officially banned gay unions.
Previously, the registration of same-sex marriage was under the jurisdiction of each state, only 37 of which granted the procedure a legal status. The first state to allow people of the same sex to marry was Massachusetts in 2004.
The Supreme Court put an end to the 19-year path to universal legalization of gay marriage in the United States of America. However, the victory is still inconclusive as to LGBT activists embrace the task of protecting the community from attacks and discrimination, which are still an acute problem and their main argument in this struggle is psychological health of LGBT people due to this discrimination.
According to experts, the historic US Supreme Court decision to legalize same-sex marriage across the country can improve health of representatives of sexual minorities.
Experts argue heterosexual men who are married, have stronger physical and mental health than people who do not have a formalized relationship. Research among same-sex couples also showed that marriage gives them similar benefits.
Within the scope of the most recent research, more than 2600 members of the LGBT community were interviewed. The results showed that those who were in legally recognized relationships, had lower levels of stress and suffered less from depression symptoms compared with those who were in a relationship that was not legally sealed.
"We know that marriage does enhance people's health," said Richard Wight, a researcher at the University of California. "Now, there's the potential for marriage to enhance the health of sexual minorities in the same way it does for heterosexual people”.
Experts believe that the right to marry can compensate for disparity in mental health statistics between the LGBT community and heterosexual. As the source of this essay I have selected the article “How Same-Sex Marriage Ruling Could Improve Health” posted at http://www.livescience.com/51368-same-sex-marriage-health.html. I have checked other materials at the same site and found out that they all have quotes from specialists, references to official research projects, and statistical data that can be verified. Moreover, it has a rubric “Health” which means adds certain credibility to the authors.
The statistical data show that the mental health of legitimized couples is actually better. So it is an objective claim corroborated by some research facts. So it is an objective fact and there can be no belief or confirmation bias involved into making this claim. If we haven’t receives the stats the above biases would take place since it is evident that people who are discriminated and are unrecognized by the society are under greater stress compared to those who are not. This is also common sense. As for the author of this article, he may have in-group bias since he got himself involved in the matter. But there’s no information in the article as to his affiliation to LGBT community.
Another aspect of the issue is the entitlement of same sex couples and their kids to social benefits, such as family health insurance or widower payments. As equal in rights to conventional couples there should be no discrimination here.
