Marriage equality is a health issue

Morning Edition on NPR this morning had a segment on mental health of gay and lesbians in states that passed marriage protection amendments. Just before a slew of states passed gay marriage bans in 2004 the NIH conducted a huge mental health survey. After more bans were enacted in 2005 the NIH revisited most of the same people. Gays in states with newly enacted marriage bans had a huge increase -- more than double -- in psychiatric disorders, most of them associated with stress. That didn't happen with straight couples or with gays in states that didn't enact the ban. Social policies are health policies.