The Health Impact of Making Marriage Legal

by Michael Jones · 2009-01-28 08:07:00 UTC
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HealthOf the 10,000 reasons to ensure marriage equality rights for everyone in this country, here's one worth highlighting, via the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG): denying marriage rights negatively impacts the direct and indirect health care needs of gays and lesbians.  ACOG is out with an organizational statement today, calling for recognition of same-sex marriage rights based on health rights.

ACOG's statement looks specifically at the impact on lesbian relationships, noting that "many lesbians experience barriers to health care, including concerns about confidentiality, discriminatory attitudes and treatment, limited access to health care and health insurance, and often an inadequate understanding of their own health risks.  Adding to these obstacles, lesbians and their families are negatively affected by the lack of legal recognition of their relationships and the lawful protections that automatically come with legally recognized marriage. This lack of legal rights has direct health-related implications for lesbian couples and their children."

(Many of those same barriers and obstacles are there for gay men, too, and their partners and their families.)

The ACOG statement also points out that denying gays and lesbians access to marriage prevents same-sex couples from attaining the multitude of financial protections available to heterosexual married couples.  The ACOG opinion mentions Social Security benefits, which even in states that currently recognize civil unions or full marriage rights, do not transfer over to gay and lesbian partners.  Per Kirsten M. Smith, MD, a member of ACOG's Committee on Health Care for Underserved Women: "It's well understood that financial security is directly related to access to health care.  And while this is true for everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, same-sex couples often are prevented from attaining it because they are not given the same rights and benefits that heterosexual married couples are given."

So there you have it.  Full marriage equality isn't just a matter of civil rights.  It's a matter of public health rights, too.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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