Regardless of whether laws were passed, Chad Meyerhoefer’s research reveals negative consequences that may be compared to current U.S. “bathroom bills.”
According to a study led by Chad Meyerhoefer, the Arthur F. Searing Professor and head of the department of economics at the College of Business, Poland’s organized political effort to oppose LGBT rights over the past few years has produced little substantial plan but significant negative mental health outcomes for the population.
According to a working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), annual suicide attempts rose by 16% following the passage of anti-LGBT legislation. Additionally, suicide rates among middle-aged people and in regions that thought about but did not implement anti-LGBT policies rose.
According to Meyerhoefer, a research associate with NBER’s Economics of Health Program, “Our results suggest that stigma of minority groups causes declines in community emotional health.” These kinds of unfair behaviors cause anxiety, feelings of loneliness, and animosity. Suicide attempts may result from the cultural shame associated with the rules for those who already have mental health issues, which are more common among LGBT people.
Political anti-LGBT mood
The Law and Justice group, also known as PiS, which Meyerhoefer described as representing a particular brand of “right-wing” democracy, rose to power in Poland along with the anti-LGBT activity. The party won a majority in Parliament in 2015, and it remained in power until December 2023 when voters chose to give them the more mild lot.
According to Meyerhoefer, the gathering used LGBT rights and other contentious social issues as part of its political strategy at the time. The “promotion of community values,” a system that included anti-LGBT rhetoric, was codified by national group leaders.
However, there wasn’t much real policy made on the subject of LGBT rights at the national level. Instead, in areas with populations that were more socially liberal and had lower socioeconomic status, this anti-LGBT sentiment gained more democratic traction locally.
The majority of anti-LGBT legislation was put into effect at the powiat (county) or gmina (municipal) level, and by 2019, a total of 91 provinces, genitalia, or pro-gender groups had passed some form of the law. According to Meyerhoefer, these areas made up about a third of the nation’s total land area and community.
Usually, sub-national legislation denounced sexuality and sex education in schools and declared formal opposition to the philosophy associated with the LGBT rights movement. Additionally, some rules established parental control over extracurricular school activities and named a “family watchdog” tasked with defending family rights. The goals of many opponents’ ideas were to establish “LGBT-free areas.”
According to Meyerhoefer, whose broad-based studies in health economy has concentrated on the effects of public guidelines on health benefits, health care access, and economic measures, “these actions provide official punishment to broad discrimination against LGBT individuals in a variety of political domains.”
Anti-LGBT legislation contributed to more homicides.
Meyerhoefer’s team used difference-in-differences (DID) models to compare changes in suicide attempts, suicides, and overall mortality in areas that adopted anti-LGBT laws to changes based on these outcomes in regions along the county border that did not pass laws in order to study the effects of these official actions on the population’s mental health.
Bingjin Xue ’18G’23 Ph.D., a research associate professor of economics at the University of New Hampshire’s Paul College Economics, and Anna Poznaska of the Polish National Institute of Public Health co-authored the working paper, “Implications of the Decline in LGBT Rights for Population Mental Health: Evidence from Polish ‘LGBT-free Zones.”
Xue, who obtained a Ph.D. in economic engineering, Health scholar D. in economics from Lehigh studies the effects of health information technology and how people policies affect people’s mental health and well-being.
The researchers discovered that after the passage of anti-LGBT laws, suicide attempts increased by 16%, or five attempts per 100,000 people. This increase in suicide attempt was primarily among people and was linked to 11 more deaths per 100,000 people between the ages of 30 and 49.
These findings are consistent with the minority stress theory, which holds that discrimination, prejudice, and stigma against people who identify as minorities foster a distressing social climate that results in physical and mental health issues.
The discovery that suicide attempts significantly increased in regions that debated adopting but eventually rejected laws, however, surprised researchers more.
“We were surprised by how much the discussion of anti-LGBT proposals affected suicide attempts,” Meyerhoefer said. It is difficult to draw any direct comparisons between the locations that passed and deliberated anti-LGBT rules because they each have unique characteristics, but the impact of deliberating resolutions on suicide attempts is at least as great as that of passing laws.
The review also noted that limited resources for troubled youth and inadequate access to physiological treatment for mental health conditions may intensify unfavorable effects.
Considering the consequences of “bath charges” in the US
The results offer lessons that can be applied to different nations where sexuality is a contentious social issue.
The research looks at a number of nations that have passed laws that make same-sex sexual functions punishable by death. Uganda, Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Northern Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia, and the United Arab Emirates are a few of these nations.
A number of anti-LGBT laws passed in 2021, including one that forbade the dissemination of information deemed to “promote sexuality or sex reassignment” through any means, such as the media or in schools, brought Poland’s German neighbor, Hungary, worldwide attention.
Like anti-LGBT social initiatives are in opposition to the global movement for increased LGBT rights that is more prevalent. The research cites a statement from the Human Rights Campaign that lists 35 nations that have legalized same-sex unions in addition to many more nations with protections for mutual implementation and bans on employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.
There is a growing pushback from conservative political groups against the development of LGBT rights, Meyerhoefer said, despite data that same-sex marriage laws and related non-discrimination policies increased the well-being of LGBTQ people and created financial wealth.
Meyerhoefer sees similarities between “bathroom bills” that are currently being debated in many states in the United States. Generally speaking, these rules aim to limit people’s access to public restrooms based on their gender personality.
Despite the fact that there are n’t many bills in the US that have passed, Poland’s example suggests that LGBT people are suffering greatly as a result of the intense public debate surrounding the bills.
“The right of LGBT people to freely express their gender identity is still the subject of social issue,” he claimed, “even though regulations in the U.S. tend to focus on the school culture (either representations of LGBTQ people in literature, or bathroom access ). As a result, anti-LGBT laws in the United States or somewhere you cause discrimination and anxiety for LGBT people.
Poland’s potential
Many of the local regulations that had been passed in gminas actually before PiS was overthrown by court decisions or deliberately repealed. Under the more mild federal government, Meyerhoefer predicted that the movement to reform these acts would continue to pick up speed.
However, it might not be sufficient to offset the unfavorable results of the earlier charges.
“Anti-LGBT laws have broader adverse consequences for community mental health even when they do not immediately restrict the rights of LGBT individuals or just change some individuals,” Meyerhoefer said. “We are definitely interested in studying the effects of regulation vetoes.”
Implications of the Decline in LGBT Rights for Population Mental Health: Evidence from Polish “LGBT-free zones” (2023), Chad Meyerhoefer et al. 10.3386/w31702 DOI a service offered by Lehigh University
Citation: Anti-LGBT legislation contributed to more homicides in Poland, research finds (2024, February 12) retrieved 12 February 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2024-02-anti-lgbt-bills-suicides-poland.html
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