A study released last month indicated the psychological value of legal recognition of same-sex marriage.
The Williams Institute research, which began prior to last summer’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that brought marriage equality nationwide, found that LGB individuals faced less distress about their sexuality in states that sanctioned same-sex marriage than it those that didn’t.
Participants in marriage-equality states reported less motivation to conceal an LGB identity, less vigilance and fewer feelings of isolation, as well as less difficulty “claiming” their LGB identity, than their counterparts in states without marriage equality.
The study included 307 couples who were legally married and 50 couples with no legal recognition.
While the research pointed to marriage equality’s impact on individuals’ acceptance of their identity, it also indicated that marriage can reinforce a couple’s commitment to one another, leading them to report more positive feelings about their partner.
University of Kentucky researcher Ellen D. B. Riggle said the study indicates the importance of the symbolic and logistical support provided by marriage equality.
“We know that many same-sex couples who got married right after the laws changed had already been together in long-term, committed relationships for many years, or decades,” said Riggle. “For these long-term couples, the impact of the change in laws is more about the change in their environment and how much support they feel for their relationship within their communities and from institutions.”
While legal recognition decreased participants’ anxiety about being LGB, the study also indicated that non-recognized long-term relationships had valuable benefits on well-being.
“In fact, most of the indicators used in this study were not significantly different based on marital state or state recognition, which is consistent with previous findings,” the researchers wrote.